Pakistan’s status as a magnet for militancy and its struggles with terrorists are well known. Less discussed are the energy challenges facing that South Asian nation. Yet those struggles, though of a different nature than terrorism, are just as serious.

Energy insecurity, as I describe in a new Wilson Center report, “Pakistan’s Interminable Energy Crisis,” is unrelenting. In recent years, power shortfalls in Pakistan have approached 50% of national demand. Even in an era of cheap global oil, electricity shortages of several thousand megawatts are the norm. Last month in the mega-city of Karachi, some households had no electricity for more than 12 hours a day.