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The killing of Osama bin Laden, one of the most prized assets of Pakistan Army, is likely to exacerbate differences among the top and middle-rung Army leadership which has been quite uncomfortable with the US over the Raymond Davis affair and the Drone attacks. The key question is what effect this event will have on the Army and the ISI.

The Pakistan Accountability Act, moved in the US Congress this week, lacks the necessary coercive elements required to persuade Pakistan or to alter its strategic calculus in the context of Afghanistan. It very well realises its importance to the US for successful completion of the counter-insurgency campaign and sustaining troops.

As expected, President General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan announced a major reshuffle of the senior officers of the Pakistan Army of the rank of Generals and Lts.General on October 2 and 3, 2004.

There is only one way in which Pakistan can survive as a nation-state. That is, the Pakistan Army will have to confine itself to being an armed force and not usurp the powers and responsibilities of the legislature and executive branch of the government. The mission objective of an armed force is to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of the country and not run it. The people of Pakistan have a choice here.

Pakistan Army is in the throes of a dramatic transformation both in its profile and approach but is no where near relinquishing its stranglehold over the political and corporate landscape of Pakistan. The office-cadre is much more conservative but not radical,

The present generation of the Pakistani army is not so much Islamic as political and materialistic, said Professor Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and renowned authority on Pakistan Army. Speaking at the USI as part of a joint ORF-USI lecture, Profession Cohen said the Pakistani army was only using Islam for its political objectives and this has not compromised the professional orientation of the army.

India has expressed its willingness to extend technical assistance for improving infrastructure in Pakistan. Pakistan is bound to realise that holding on to terrorism as an instrument of State policy would not be in its interests as Pakistan would be the real sufferers in the long run.

Waziristan last month ostensibly to hunt down al Qaida and Talibanelements has been a visible failure which could dramatically alterthe already existing fault lines in the force divided betweenloyalty to Musharraf, nation and religion.South Waziristan is one of the seven areas -Khyber, Kurram,Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North and South Waziristan - which wereclubbed together as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)by the British who wanted

There are conflicting reports about Pakistan army's decision to launch a military offensive against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and other terrorist strongholds in North Waziristan.

More than Afghanistan and Iraq, it is Pakistan which reflects the failure of the American foreign policy. Or is it naïve on my part to say so since the possibility of Pakistan being sheltered and supported as a nation that spawns terror groups willingly by Washington could in fact be the reality? Why would Washington, or for that matter others, ignore two recent events in Pakistan which clearly point at the regrouping of terror groups under the

On April 3 this year, a one-day conference was organised in Washington by the South Asian Studies department of the John Hopkins University. One of the sessions was on Pakistan, specifically on the safety of its nuclear installations.

Senate's recent decision to pass the 'National Commission on the Status of Women Bill, 2012' was a step forward for the women's rights movement in Pakistan.

The division of India remains a long litany of tragedy for the consequences it threw up in the times following August 1947.

It is time that India seriously consider "outsourcing" some aspects of its foreign policy to its border provinces. Encouragement of deeper cooperation between border states in both India and Pakistan -especially the two Punjabs, the two Kashmirs, and Rajasthan (India) and Sind (Pakistan) -- could be a good beginning for bettering relations.

Nothing, with the exception of the Kashmir issue, has been more debated, researched and written about in the context of Indo Pak relations than the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India Natural Gas pipeline in the last decade. From Onshore to Offshore options and international consortia and guarantees to people to contact, almost everything and anything has been tossed around and evaluated, yet to no avail. The pipeline still remains a pipe dream.

The Peshawar attack offers the Pakistan leadership a corner to turn around - it only needs to first define who is a terrorist? But is the military and civilian leadership of Pakistan capable, and willing, to take on the terrorist groups, especially TTP? The rhetoric and actions on the part of the leadership raise serious doubts about the will.

During a recent discussion on Indo-US relations, a former senior adviser to the Government of India, who retired some years ago, expressed his surprise that the community of non-governmental strategic analysts in New Delhi had failed to forewarn the policy-makers of the Government of India over the likelihood of opposition from the US to the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan till the Indian border to sell gas to Pakistan a

The National Assembly in Pakistan is the highest political institution, a representative body of the people of Pakistan, at least on paper. While the Indian political leadership and public were engaged in finding new ways to firm up the peace process, the National Assembly,

While bus and cricket diplomacy is being played out with unbridled passion across borders, a dispassionate and more realistic discourse on human rights violations in Kashmir should form part of the new-found bon homie between India and Pakistan. There is a reason why such an assessment is important.

Posturing for domestic audiences on Pakistan in election year is easy. But dealing with the challenges emanating from an increasingly unstable Pakistan will not be. And if we don't draw the right lessons from Manmohan Singh's failures, there will be no end to the tragedy of India's Pakistan policy.

The timing of the recent India-Pakistan agreement can’t be a coincidence, and the Modi government needs to watch its back.

TRF attempts to paint a secularised image to secure more recruits and resources. It is yet to be seen whether this strategy will help it gain momentum

This issue brief explores the prospects and problems for the new government in Afghanistan with respect to: the two new leaders and their respective positions; the Taliban; and the regional countries China, India, Iran and Pakistan.

South Asia comprises of eight countries-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Except for India and to an extent, Pakistan given our obsession with it, we know very little about other countries of South Asia.

An unrelenting power crisis is adding to Pakistan's woes. Power shortage has hit Punjab the hardest, shutting down industrial units and market places for days together and bringing people out on to the streets.

Jammu & Kashmir will emerge as one of the key areas of conflict and is likely to witness an increased US interest during the second term of President George W Bush. The reasons are not far to seek. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been Mr Bush's strong ally in the war against terror and will continue to be so. President Bush's return to the White House,

Hybrid warfare is an emerging global challenge, with military and non-military elements. This has given rise to the need to develop national capabilities to combat amorphous adversaries by utilising intelligence, information, cyber, electronic, conventional, and unconventional warfare techniques. This paper discusses the nuances of hybrid warfare, explores the hybrid warfare capabilities of India’s key adversaries (Pakistan and China),

Asif Ali Zardari, 53, the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is not new to politics, nor is he to the Machiavellian twists and turns necessary to survive in the intensely fratricidal politics of Pakistan where the final shots are called by the Chief of Army Staff.

As Indo-Pak relations hit rock bottom, the civil-military standoff in Pakistan has flared into the open. Could there be a link between the two?

One of the critical issues that seem to have missed the Indian-Pakistan peace process is terrorism. Pakistan has quietly managed to keep the issue on the backburner by raising the issues of Baglihar dam and Kashmir.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) placed itself in a highly embarrassing situation with its decision to ban the usage of 'obscene' words in text messages. Stiff resistance from users,

Terrorist attacks of this nature do not happen overnight. They take time to organise and plan.

Army and the intelligence agencies have always shaped the political process in Pakistan and things won't be any different after the 2007 general election ---- President Pervez Musharraf is all set for his re-election in 2007. He has already declared his intention to be re-elected by the present set of elected representatives.

No accurate estimate is as yet available on the human losses and material damage suffered by the Al Qaeda and other jihadi terrorist organisations belonging to Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF) as a result of the earthquake, which struck Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan on October 8, 2005.

The chance of an all-out two-front war with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China are near zero; local skirmishes are always possible. The difference between planning for all-out war and a limited one is hundreds of thousands of crores of the taxpayer's precious money .

PM Modi's queue for a reality check to balance diplomacy, with domestic interests, for keeping the economic interests higher.

This paper follows the proceedings of a workshop organised by ORF in August 2014 to re-examine India's nuclear doctrine. The workshop explored the challenges posed to India by Pakistan's introduction of battlefield nuclear weapons or Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), New Delhi's interest in acquiring a Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, and the growing threat perception from China.

Delhi has envisioned various subregions in and around the subcontinent. Re-integrating the subcontinent by re-discovering the old as well as building

The democratic transition in Pakistan has coincided with the last year of the UPA government's second term in India. As the government battles one controversy after another, the looming elections in 2014 may act as a distraction wherein improving relations with Pakistan may not be a priority for the government at present.

It is important to humanise the ‘other’ and move away from the stereotypical ‘enemy’ perception that have dominated Indo-Pak relations.

Efforts toward a peaceful reconciliation with the Taliban have failed and Afghanistan and the United States remain engaged in a bitter war against the insurgent group. The US has shown willingness and capability to go after Taliban leaders on Pakistani soil, upsetting its relations with Islamabad and ending Pakistan's game of plausible deniability. Under its new leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban continue their onslaught against the

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Hussain Haqqani, has urged regional powers to begin dialogue to prevent Afghanistan from slipping into a civil war situation after the US pullout later this year.

If India is the glue that binds the Sino-Pak alliance, as many argue, Delhi should have the capacity to weaken that bond through its own policies. Delhi has managed to alter the triangular dynamic with Pakistan and America by expanding its partnership with Washington. There might be similar possibilities awaiting Modi in Beijing.

India and Iran are, in their own way, natural allies, a fact underscored by the increasing anti-Shia nature of Pakistan. We need them more than they need us and so we must begin the process getting Teheran off its great sulk against us.

In the aftermath of 9/11, fissures between the 'Islamic' and 'non-Islamic' world - a categorisation which is rather nebulous - have 'vindicated' the claims of many individuals on the Indian and Pakistani side that faith is a cause of conflict between both countries.