Central Asia Accessing Pakistani Sea Ports that Bypass Afghanistan
May 29th, 2026
Via Jamestown, a report on how Central Asia is bypassing Afghanistan as a primary transit gateway to the sea: Executive Summary: Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the successful implementation of a pilot transport project on the Kyrgyzstan–China–Pakistan route on April 24. The new 2,000-mile route through the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is […]
Read more »An Unlikely Source of Crypto Innovation: Afghanistan
January 28th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how – even though the repressive Taliban government is suspicious of the internet – a start-up in the country is building blockchain-based tools to transform humanitarian aid: At a bustling money changer in northwestern Syria, a 46-year-old farmer gripped a plastic card like a lifeline. She […]
Read more »Afghanistan’s Uncertain Gamble for Economic Survival
December 13th, 2025
Via Asia Sentinel, a report on Afghanistan’s economy, caught between countervailing forces: Afghanistan, in a desperate domestic struggle for mere survival amid an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, a severe economic collapse, and a profound human rights crisis, is now caught in a dangerous geopolitical squeeze. India is maneuvering to exploit Kabul’s standoff with Islamabad, the United […]
Read more »Between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a Trade War With No End in Sight
December 8th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how – after deadly cross-border military clashes – the Pakistani and Afghan governments have locked their populations in a trade war threatening the livelihoods of millions: One of Peshawar’s largest markets in western Pakistan once bustled with thousands of Afghan-owned shops and carts, selling everything from […]
Read more »U.S. Waiver of Sanctions on Iran’s Chabahar Port is Good News for Central Asia
December 7th, 2025
Via the Times of Central Asia, a report on how a recent U.S. waiver of sanctions on Iran’s Chabahar Port is good news for Central Asia: U.S. sanctions on Iran’s Chabahar Port on the Gulf of Oman have been on again/off again since 2013, when the U.S. Congress passed the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act […]
Read more »Sanctions, the Taliban, and an Iranian Port: The Uncertain Future of India’s Kabul Route
November 7th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, commentary on how India’s approach to the Taliban has gradually shifted from purely humanitarian aid to a focus on trade and transit. On October 30, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced that the United States had granted India a six-month extension to the sanctions waiver for operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port. Issued under […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.