logo
episode-header-image
May 2025
16m 56s

Border geopolitics: India and Pakistan r...

ECFR
About this episode

Over the weekend, India and Pakistan came closer to all-out war than perhaps at any point in the past 20 to 25 years as missiles flew back and forth across the border. At the point of this podcast recording, a fragile ceasefire appears to be holding—but tensions remain high.


In this week’s emergency podcast episode, Mark Leonard welcomes Andrew Small, senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific programme, to discuss how the recent escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan highlights the potential for nuclear conflict. They also explore America’s role in mediating the situation, implications for Europe in light of the evolving geopolitical landscape, and the growing influence of China in the region.

What has led to the most recent conflict events between India and Pakistan? How did each side negotiate the ceasefire? And, as Europeans, what lessons have we learned from the countries’ retaliatory acts?


This episode was recorded on May 12th 2025.

 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Feb 6
Indignity with Lea Ypi
Mark Leonard is joined by Lea Ypi, ECFR council member and professor in political theory at the London School of Economics, to discuss her latest book Indignity: A Life Reimagined, which asks how individuals can maintain their dignity in a totalitarian system. Mark and Lea delve ... Show More
32m 20s
Jan 30
Europe-Africa relations in 2026
Mark Leonard is joined by Africa experts Nathalie Delapalme, CEO of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and ECFR council member, Carlos Lopes, honourary professor at the University of Cape Town who has occupied prominent positions in the UN and African Union and Alex Vines, director of ECF ... Show More
34m 42s
Jan 29
The EU-India mega-deal
In an emergency podcast episode, Mark Leonard welcomes James Crabtree, ECFR distinguished visiting fellow and former Mumbai bureau chief for the Financial Times, to discuss the long-awaited EU-India trade deal. The agreement, nearly 20 years in the making, was signed in New Delhi ... Show More
18m 46s
Recommended Episodes
May 2025
India and Pakistan: what now?
After a short but intense clash, a ceasefire is holding between India and Pakistan, but tensions remain high. Both sides claim victory, but the rapid escalation in the conflict bodes ill for future diplomacy between the two countries. Gideon talks to Professor Sushant Singh, lect ... Show More
22m 15s
May 2025
Until Next Time? The India-Pakistan Truce
This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group experts Praveen Donthi, Samina Ahmed, and Pierre Prakash about the India-Pakistan ceasefire after days of clashes sparked by militant attacks in Kashmir and how to prevent the next crisis from spiralling out of contro ... Show More
47m 15s
May 2025
India and Pakistan: A Fragile Ceasefire Holds—But for How Long?
<p>On April 22, militants launched a brutal assault on a tourist site in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing 26 civilians in what became the deadliest terrorist attack in India in nearly 15 years. What followed was the most intense military confrontation between India and Pakistan ... Show More
31m 21s
May 2025
Why are India and Pakistan clashing over Kashmir?
India and Pakistan have largely seen each other as rivals since they got their independence from Britain in 1947. Recently, tensions have erupted there again, and over the past week both sides have launched cross-border military strikes. It’s been over Kashmir - a Himalayan regio ... Show More
12m 39s
May 2025
The India-Pakistan conflict w/ Radhika Desai
Radhika Desai returns to PTO to talk about the latest round of violence between India and Pakistan, following the terrorist attack that killed 26 tourists in Indian administered Kashmir on April 22nd. We discussed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir since 2019, when the Hindu nati ... Show More
33m 47s
May 2025
Back from the brink: India and Pakistan’s uneasy truce over Kashmir
The Guardian’s south Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports on the spiralling conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and how the two nuclear powers agreed a fragile ceasefire. Azhar Qadri, a journalist, explains what the conflict looks like from inside Kashmi ... Show More
30m 17s
Apr 2025
The UK & EU Finalise a Defence Pact
In today’s episode, we cover the surprise ceasefire between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and M23 rebel group, the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, and Russia’s latest strikes in the Ukrainian capital.Watch TLDR’s latest videos here:https://youtu.be/FNr_cIZH ... Show More
5m 19s