Strategic Assessment Paper · Releases Monday 22 June
The Pakistan Playbook
A source-based financial and strategic accounting of the May 2025 conflict — Operation Sindoor and Marka-e-Haq. Forty pages, seventy-five cited sources, and four tiers of evidence, sequenced so the reader starts inside India’s own admissions before a single Pakistani source is introduced. It documents the aircraft losses, the cost asymmetry, and the strategic balance that emerged.
Our two core products
The Playbook — a weekly long-form video podcast built around a single clear question, recorded in Islamabad. One guest or a tightly structured roundtable, chosen for substance rather than visibility. No panel chaos, no performative debate — the host interrogates the thesis.
The Playbook Brief — a subscription intelligence newsletter on Pakistan’s geopolitical, defence, and policy landscape. Each edition is built around four consistent sections: Top Line, Behind the Scenes, The Signal, and Watchlist.
Both products are launching soon. The Playbook Brief is a paid subscription product — but early sign-ups may receive a complimentary subscription. Register your interest in the newsletter → or follow the podcast →
Editorial Independence
The Pakistan Playbook is the editorial publication of Captiv8 Strategies (UK) Ltd, a London-registered strategic research and communications firm. The publication is self-funded. Editorial direction, analytical conclusions, source selection, and research priorities are determined independently of any government, institutional client, or commercial sponsor. It operates free from ethnic, religious, sectarian, or ideological leanings, and carries no advertising beyond the promotion of its own products.
The Editor
Dan Qayyum is a writer, media strategist, and long-standing advisor to government institutions and media organisations across the region. His work explores the intersections of geopolitics, military doctrine, and regional transformation. His upcoming book, The Other Side of Endurance, examines his own journey through crisis, resilience, and reinvention.