Praveen Swami

The United States is already working to bypass Pakistan’s geographical advantage in the region, and it isn't as invested in maintaining the geopolitical order in the Middle East any more.

Iran is considering its next moves in the Afghan war-without-end

Tehran might have secured the eviction of its superpower adversary from Afghanistan—only to discover that in this case, victory holds out the dangers of defeat.

The road to 9/11 was paved by the Islamist fantasies that America itself nurtured

From archival material, it is now clear that the United States watched the road to 9/11 being built—and chose not to act.

How will the world deal with the next 9/11?

We are, for better or worse, at a turning point in world history, where the Great Powers are stepping back from their traditional role as upholders of order.

Amid blood-red sunset of US withdrawal, fears rise that Afghan State will implode

Economic engagement with the Taliban could empower a ruthless regime. A collapsed Afghanistan, though, could degenerate into narco-state which exports terrorism.

Iran’s Presidential election has set the stage for high-stakes talks with the US, but the path forward remains fraught

For Tehran and Washington to arrive at acceptable terms, they will have to come to a shared understanding on the influence and role of Iran in the region—one that states like Israel and Saudi Arabia can also live with.

The collapse of the Afghan state is inevitable—but for the United States, that might not be bad news

The end of the 9/11 war, twenty years after it began, won’t mark the beginning of peace. Instead, a kind of war-making perpetual-motion machine is being built in Afghanistan.

G7 needs to learn from China, if it's going to succeed in pushing back China’s BRI

China's BRI initiative is set to pump up to $1.3 trillion into infrastructure projects in over 100 emerging economies by 2027, powering the emergence of a global order in which China lies at the centre of a new constellation of geopolitical power.

Pirates of the Caribbean: the real Mehul Choksi story isn’t about honeytraps and spies, but the world’s greatest safe haven for crime

Eastern Caribbean states have provided a safe haven for criminals since the time of the pirate forts of the 1700s. The Mehul Choksi case is an opportunity for India to lead an international effort to end this.

New Delhi’s battle with WhatsApp mirrors high-stakes global battle over encryption

The debate over end-to-end encryption isn’t just about crime: It rests on the belief that there is a tech-fix for social behaviours like inflammatory rumour or pornography. The advocates of these ideas should think again.

To India’s east, the surreal rise of a narco-nightmare

The surreal history of East Asia’s narco-kingdoms, as dark as any opium nightmare, teaches us what happens when authoritarianism, corruption and underdevelopment collude to bring about the implosion of polities.

Mumbai blasts: Experts discuss terror tackling strategies

Bomb blasts that took place in Mumbai on Wednesday have raised serious and pressing questions about the lessons India has failed to learn after 26/11 and its consequent preparedness or unpreparedness to face terror that is the big issue we shall tackle today.