Natasha Matloob

This study explores how Pakistan could assist Afghanistan in reversing its economic decline amidst significant challenges.

The US can be accused of neglecting Russia’s ideological, political, defense, and geographic concerns in its foreign policy decisions regarding Russia and its neighboring regions. On the other hand, Russia’s leadership has often shown a distrustful and assertive posture that has hindered meaningful engagement with the West.

Pakistan’s divided education system mirrors social inequality, creating separate worlds for children of different classes and limiting national cohesion.

Growing smartphone penetration has equipped traffickers with new tools, allowing them to utilize fraudulent job ads and social media grooming to recruit victims cheaply and broadly.

Ultimately, Trump’s Bagram demand is less about Afghanistan and more about U.S. politics. But for regional actors, the consequences of such rhetoric are all too real.

The paper analyses the Panama Papers, Pandora Papers, and Dubai Leaks to show how Pakistan’s hybrid constitutional order absorbs exposure without institutional consequence.

Pakistan has cycled through a series of military operations designed to root out the TTP from its base in the country’s northwest. Among these were operations al-Mizan (2002-06), Rah-e-Rast (May-July 2009), Rah-e-Nijat (June-December 2009), Zarb-e-Azb (2014), and Radd-ul-Fasaad (2017). Each military action scattered militants but failed to dismantle the TTP and other groups; each declared “victory” while leaving the root causes of militancy untouched.

In August 2025, reports from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s largest and most notorious prison, horrified the nation. At least 148 prisoners tested positive for HIV, the highest number ever recorded in a Punjab facility. Adiala jail, built to hold 1,994 inmates, currently houses more than 4,300. Cramped cells, poor sanitation, unsafe drug practices, and neglect have turned it into a breeding ground for disease. This outbreak is no aberration. It is the predictable outcome of a prison system collapsing under its own colonial weight.

The impact of Afghanistan’s narcotics economy is not confined to its borders. The porous Durand Line allows smuggling networks to extend deep into Pakistan’s tribal districts, carrying not only drugs but also the logistical expertise and ideological rationales developed over decades of conflict. The present study shows that “narco-jihad” cannot be understood merely as a coincidental overlap between drug trafficking and militant violence; rather, it should be viewed as a durable economic–ideological order that has emerged within a context of governance collapse, structural poverty, and protracted conflict.

In my article for OXGS, I explore how instability in Iran could reshape Afghanistan’s already fragile political and security landscape. I argue that Iran functions as a regional buffer, and any internal crisis or weakening of Tehran would not remain contained, it would ripple outward into neighboring states, particularly Afghanistan. Drawing on regional dynamics, I show how Afghanistan’s economic fragility, weak governance, and exposure to external influence make it especially vulnerable to spillover effects, whether through proxy competition, shifting alliances, or increased instability. My piece ultimately reframes Afghanistan not as an isolated crisis, but as part of a broader geopolitical chain reaction, where shocks in Iran could accelerate instability across South and Central Asia. It highlights how great power competition and regional rivalries intersect in Afghanistan, making it a likely pressure point if Iran “shakes.”