Nowhere Left to Go: Afghan Refugees Between an American Retreat and an Iranian War 

Four years ago, the United States was airlifting allies out of Kabul under a program it called Operation Allies Welcome. Now it is offering some of those same allies $4,500 to go back. More than 1,000 Afghans who worked alongside American forces, interpreters, and the relatives of U.S. service members, remain stranded at a shuttering […]

Strategic Messaging: October 2026 (Vol. 3, Issue 1)

Militant Media Intelligence Assessment In this issue Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP): 334 attacks claimed in September and 406 in August; expansion into South Punjab, interior Sindh and Balochistan; allegiance pledges from Mohmand, Quetta and Bajaur; open rift with AQIS after the…

Karima’s Heirs: The BLF’s All-Female Unit

On September 22, 2026, the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) unveiled a new unit made up entirely of women. It named the unit the Karima Armed Assault Division (KAAD), and released a launch video showing its fighters in training. The same day, the BLF claimed KAAD’s first attack, an ambush on an army convoy near Turbat. […]

Strategic Messaging Spotlight: A Contest Over Authority

The September issue of Strategic Messaging (Vol. 2, Issue 3) tracks a militant landscape in which Pakistan’s groups spent almost as much energy contesting one another’s legitimacy as they did attacking the state. The clearest thread running through the period is a widening dispute over rightful authority within the jihadist camp — one in which […]

The Bannu Police Boycott: A Frontline Force Under Strain in Pakistan

In Khyber Pukhtunkhwa embattled southern districts, the police are simultaneously the targets of militancy, the instrument of state policy, and lately, protesters themselves. On August 25, 2026 police personnel in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) gathered at the district police lines and boycotted their duties. The trigger was bureaucratically mundane: transfer orders, issued by the Central […]

Strategic Messaging | September 2026 (Vol. 2, Issue 3)

PDF Download IN THIS ISSUE Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) July infographic claims 315 attacks and 781 casualties, extending the group’s fewer-but-deadlier pattern, with claimed police casualties more than doubling as soldier casualties halved; a sharp attack surge advertised in the Manzil…

The Making of Mahrang Baloch: Protest, Prosecution, and the Future of Baloch Politics

Mahrang Baloch has emerged as one of the most prominent figures in Balochistan’s ongoing political and social movement. A leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, she has organized campaigns against alleged human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings in a region that has seen decades of violence over demands for greater rights. She is […]