Month: July 2026

A thoughtful piece by Asfandyar Mir on how Pakistan has situated itself in the Iran-US war:

“as both the Biden and Trump administrations have learned at great cost, modern conflicts cannot be walled off. Alliance-centric strategies, which promise that pooling the military and economic weight of many states will deter threats and, if necessary, defeat adversaries, have proved incapable of preventing or ending wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran. In a disordered world, that rigid approach is a liability. Creating pockets of stability requires flexibility of the kind practiced by Pakistan and its peers. . . .

To foster relationships with these mediators, the United States must show the same willingness to cross divides that the mediators themselves have displayed. Until 2024, a near consensus in Washington held that because the United States needed strong ties with India to balance China, it would have to shut out Pakistan. Trump defied that logic and took a personal interest in the relationship with Islamabad. When the crisis came, that departure proved valuable.”

Saheb Singh Chadha has a new Carnegie-India report out on understanding current trends in Indian policy toward China. He argues:

“Four key imperatives guide India’s approach to China at this moment. This section explains each imperative, why it arises, and how the Government of India is pursuing its interests in its engagement with China. The four imperatives are:

The need to keep a channel open with Beijing amidst the churn in regional and global geopolitics driven by a change in U.S. foreign policy.

India’s necessity of managing the disputed border with China, that is resolving the standoff in eastern Ladakh, formulating new border management protocols, and settling the boundary question;

India’s economic challenges and opportunities with China, including supply chain and trade vulnerabilities, and China’s potential as a source of capital and technological investment;

New Delhi’s attempt to develop a new political understanding with Beijing in the aftermath of the breakdown in Sino-Indian political relations in 2020

The need to keep a channel open with Beijing amidst the churn in regional and global geopolitics driven by a change in U.S. foreign policy.”