In Pakistan, events in 2025 largely served to consolidate the power of Pakistan’s hybrid civil–military (democratic–authoritarian) regime, led by Chief of the Army Staff Asim Munir, President Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. An ongoing political crackdown on supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, was paired with a 27th constitutional amendment that further politicized the appointment of superior-court judges. An expansion of military operations targeting insurgents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, including unprecedented cross-border airstrikes on Kabul and Kandahar, also unfolded alongside a four-day air war with India. The aftermath of that war, including US intervention leading to a fragile ceasefire, provided an opening for some improvement in US–Pakistan relations.
Matthew J. Nelson (2026) studied this question.