Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief, which comes early this week amid major developing news in the region and beyond.

The highlights this week: Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes escalate as war flares in the Middle East, New Delhi and Islamabad walk their own diplomatic tightropes over the conflict in Iran, and Bangladesh’s new government stirs controversy by ousting the central bank governor.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief, which comes early this week amid major developing news in the region and beyond.

The highlights this week: Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes escalate as war flares in the Middle East, New Delhi and Islamabad walk their own diplomatic tightropes over the conflict in Iran, and Bangladesh’s new government stirs controversy by ousting the central bank governor.

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With the world’s attention focused on a dangerous war in Iran after the United States and Israel launched strikes against the country on Saturday, it’s easy to overlook another brewing conflict to the east. Yet just a day earlier, Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in their most intense clashes in years, with the Pakistani defense minister calling the violence an “open war.”

A new war in the Middle East amid these escalating cross-border clashes could disadvantage both Islamabad and Kabul, deepen their conflict, and pose broader risks to stability.

Underlying the escalating tensions is Pakistan’s contention that the Taliban regime is sheltering the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has increased its attacks in Pakistan since 2021. The Taliban deny this, but they rarely sever ties with militant partners. They also have little incentive to curb the TTP, which could drive its members to the Taliban’s main rival, the Islamic State-Khorasan.

Pakistan has lost leverage over the Taliban since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021; The group no longer needs the cross-border sanctuary that Pakistan supplied during the 20-year war. Unsurprisingly, diplomatic steps have failed to address Pakistan’s concerns........

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