Policy analysis

In the wake of the New York Times’ revelations, key questions arise: Why was Golsteyn targeted so aggressively while the Nerkh case was quashed? Which decisions were taken higher up the chain of command? And what reforms, if any, will emerge to prevent recurrence?

Muttaqi, a key architect of the Taliban's post-2021 takeover diplomacy, travelled to the southern province of Kandahar on Friday for the audience with Akhundzada.

Finalized in mid-2025 after extensive talks between Pakistan’s SIFC and US agencies, the deal supports Washington’s strategy to diversify critical mineral supply chains and reduce reliance on China.

According to the investment bank, India is on course to achieve average annual GDP growth of 6 to 6.5 per cent over the next decade – one of the fastest rates globally. However, this pace may not be enough to meet the employment aspirations of the country’s rapidly expanding working-age population, which will swell by nearly 100 million over the next ten years.

The 24-month cohort follow-up, conducted between August 2022 and December 2024, paints a troubling picture of early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, violence, and severe gaps in reproductive health services for some of the country’s most marginalised women.

The report’s broader poverty measure underscores how deeply structural pressures are squeezing households. The poverty rate – nearly 28 per cent – has jumped significantly in just three years.

With just five years left to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new United Nations report has warned that the world is “alarmingly off-track” on gender equality, placing millions of women and girls at risk of being left behind.

While male participation in the labour market remained largely steady, dipping only slightly from 48.1 million to 48.0 million, female participation plunged more markedly – from 25.3 million in 2023 to 23.7 million in 2024.