As Kabul Evacuation Winds Down, Pakistan Will Take Center Stage

Aug 30, 2021

Also published in The Hill
About the Authors
Simon Henderson
Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Articles & Testimony

Although Pakistan will be playing its own games in Afghanistan (and against India), planners in the Pentagon will still need to work with Islamabad to preserve future overflight options.

Despite the drama and tragedies of the U.S. evacuation from Kabul, the “story” is moving inexorably to the next stage. The theme will be geography, and the major player will become Pakistan. A glance at a map may tell only half the story. The nearest foreign capital to Kabul is Islamabad in Pakistan. It’s closer to Kabul than are the major Afghan cities of Kandahar and Herat. And much of the border with Pakistan is mountainous, seriously so. In political terms that makes it hard to control, and easy to hide in...

Read the full article on the Hill website.

To top

Recommended