RECENTLY the top UN representative in Kabul grimly remarked that in 2016, success for Afghanistan would be measured in binary terms: whether it survived or not. Afghan security forces are routinely approaching collapse….
India must use this final Nuclear Security Summit to shore up its reputation as a responsible nuclear weapons state. The upcoming Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) – the final such summit of Obama’s presidency and perhaps the…
2015 was a tense year for the relationship between India and Pakistan. The two countries shot at and shelled each other across their border, canceled bilateral talks, and suffered multiple terror attacks. Though Indian…
The Stimson Center will publish a collection of five essays in May titled, The Lure and Pitfalls of MIRVs: From the First to the Second Nuclear Age. Our authors look back at US…
In an appearance on the Center for International Private Enterprise’s “Democracy That Delivers” podcast, Deputy Director of Stimson’s South Asia Program Sameer Lalwani discusses how counterinsurgency and state-building efforts interact with issues of governance and economic development in…
With the benefit of hindsight and magical thinking, the Nuclear Enterprise and the Arms Control Enterprise should have struck a deal during the George W. Bush Administration: ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban…
The dramatic escalation of the Saudi–Iran rift in early January has triggered renewed speculation that Pakistan will be forced to pick sides and join its longtime Saudi ally to militarily balance Iran. As…
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore, hope was in the air. After eight long years of strained relations, the structure of a composite dialogue was revived. Serious exchanges between the…
By Sameer Lalwani: Today’s Kashmir Valley looks worryingly similar to the Kashmir of the 1980s, just before the region erupted into a bloody insurgency that threatened the stability of the Indo-Pakistani border. Yet in recent…
“The United States is at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces. We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many Americans as they could…
Back in the day — that would be the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80’s — arms racing was the norm. The “action-reaction” phenomenon ruled. If one superpower unveiled a new weapon system or improved hard-target-kill…
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s whirlwind surprise visit to Lahore on Christmas Day, there was little doubt that spoilers in Pakistan would try to derail improved relations. The operative questions were where, when, and whether…
Options in Afghanistan
RECENTLY the top UN representative in Kabul grimly remarked that in 2016, success for Afghanistan would be measured in binary terms: whether it survived or not. Afghan security forces are routinely approaching collapse….