South Asia

Pakistan’s Western Frontier in Growing Peril

Over the past two decades, Pakistan has gradually shifted its strategic focus from its eastern frontier with India, its historical rival, toward the two...

Pakistan’s Growing Civil-Military Pandemonium

They say there’s a first time for everything, and for Pakistan that was Feb. 8, when the military establishment failed to get what it...

The World in 2024

Editor's note: Below are the compiled links to our entire 2024 annual forecast. Please follow the links for quick navigation, or download the PDF...

Middle East Conflict Reshapes India-Iran Relations

The U.S.-Iran conflict in the Middle East may be a boon to India. The Houthi attacks, which have disrupted global shipping, allow New Delhi...

2024 Annual Forecast: India’s Transformation

Forecasting national behavior is built on continuums. One continuum is a nation’s history. Another is our analytic method. Simply looking at nations will not...

China and India Struggling in Afghanistan

Over two years since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, China and India are both trying to forge working relationships with the regime....

Daily Memo: Hamas Holds Talks in Moscow

Hamas in Moscow. Representatives of Hamas met in Moscow with Iranian and Russian officials for talks on the situation in Gaza. They discussed the...

The Race to Dominate Seabed Mining

The world can’t get enough of critical minerals. From 2017 to 2022, green energy projects alone boosted demand for lithium by roughly 200 percent,...

The Viability of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

We live in an age of interregional connections. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, after a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars in spending,...

China, India and the Path to Escalation

There is growing international concern about a potential conflict between China and India over their disputed border in the Himalayas. However, the possibility of...

A US-Led Network to Contain China Takes Shape

On Aug. 18, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David for talks aimed at creating a...

India, China and Setting the Right Expectations

The Chinese economy’s extended tumble is undoubtedly being watched from India with glee and opportunism. Ever since India became the world’s fifth-largest economy a...

Iran, Afghanistan and the Problem With Islamist Rule

A French scholar of Islamism named Olivier Roy wrote in 1994 that, as a form of governance, political Islam was doomed to fail. He...

India’s Massive Military Restructuring

India’s strategic posture has been in a state of churn for several years now, compelling New Delhi to embark on the biggest military reorganization...

Why France and India Are Natural Partners

Less than a month after his visit to the United States, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France and discussed ways the two states...

Make Some Room for the Global South

The world is in the throes of an economic and political reorganization. The COVID-19 pandemic made virtually every country rethink the fundamental structure of...

Latest Posts

The heartland of South Asia is the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a large and fertile region based around the Indus and Ganges river systems, as well as the Bramaputra in Bangladesh and eastern India.

The center of gravity of South Asia is the balance of power between Pakistan and India. Historically, India has struggled to assert itself within the subcontinent because of its complex internal divisions.

The future of Afghanistan matters to the degree it could weaken Pakistan, thereby tipping the balance of power in India’s favor.

There is an intense rivalry between China and India, but the geography of the region, including the existence of buffer states such as Nepal and Bhutan, typically prevents them from coming to blows.

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Required Reads: South Asia

The Future of India...

India will work to improve ties with Central Asia and strengthen alliances with secondary powers like Japan and Australia.

South Asia in our Memos

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Latest Posts

Daily Memo: Niger Expels US Troops, EU Invests in Egypt

Ousted. Niger’s ruling military junta ordered U.S. troops to leave the country with immediate effect. The United States has roughly 1,000 troops stationed at...

No One Wants Responsibility for Haiti

Though Washington is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, strained trade relations with China and a potential regional conflict in the Middle East, U.S....

A Closer Look at NATO Spending

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(click to enlarge) In a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Poland's president advocated that each NATO member increase defense spending to 3 percent of...

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