DND Thought Centre Report  Ready to celebrate 80th Independence Day next year, a debate is currently gaining momentum in Pakistan about reshaping the country’s governance system and creating new federating units, commonly referred to as provinces. The debate is not merely about drawing new boundaries on the administrative map; it is fundamentally about whether Pakistan can continue to be governed through a structure that many believe has failed to deliver effective governance and address emerging social, regional and civil demands for the population of 250 million because units were created when population was less than 120 million. The debate, however, has also generated questions, fears and reservations. The most important concern is economic: can Pakistan, whose economy is already under enormous pressure without any remedy at sight, afford the creation of new administrative and federating units? A country that continues to borrow to repay previous loans and struggles to meet its financial obligations cannot…

DND Special Report The fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power following the Washington-Taliban arranged withdrawal of US forces has generated numerous opinions and useful analyses.  Countries maintaining diplomatic relations or official engagement with Afghanistan’s Taliban de facto authorities include US, EU, Gulf and SCO countries. The SCO Bishkek Declaration expressed serious concerns over terrorism and drug trafficking emanating from Afghanistan. At the same time, the majority of SCO member states maintain working relations and operational diplomatic missions in Kabul, including China, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Kyrgyzstan, while Russia has already recognized the Afghan Taliban regime. A deeper analysis shows that the majority of former ISAF countries are also engaged with the Afghan Taliban at different levels. There is a saying that every relationship is based on several questions, including three important ones: “What for?”, “Why not?” and “What is the country in question…