Archive for November 25th, 2021

Predicting Allies’ Choices In An Era Of US-China Competition – Analysis

In today’s environment of growing US-China competition, America’s allies are increasingly faced with a series of what international relations authority Dr. Victor Cha calls “binary choices” between the two powers. “Open competition in relations between the United States and China has dramatically changed the environment in which the US must operate,” Cha said at a recent East-West Center webinar titled […]

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Socom Commander Says Taliban Aren’t Counterterrorism Partners In Afghanistan

Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August, the only semblance of government remaining there is the Taliban. But the Taliban are not partners in defeating terrorism there, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command said. “I don’t see them as a partner — I’ll just be frank,” Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke, commander of U.S. Special […]

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China-India: Closer To The Edge – Analysis

The past year has witnessed a spate of reports about Chinese ‘model villages’ coming up in disputed areas of its Himalayan border with India and Bhutan. In January 2021, NDTV had reported a Chinese village had come up on the banks of the Tsari Chu river in the Longju region, the site of the first Sino-Indian clashes in 1959. A […]

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ICRC to strengthen ties with China in aiding Afghanistan

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will strengthen cooperation with China to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, especially in the health sector, said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, head of the ICRC’s Regional Delegation for East Asia, Reuters reported. This comes amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan on the back of economic sanctions. Kraehenbuehl said about 47 percent of the […]

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Chinese officials reportedly in Afghanistan to explore lithium projects

Officials representing several Chinese companies are in Afghanistan to conduct on-site inspections of potential lithium projects, Reuters reported. Citing China’s Global Times, Reuters reported that representatives of five companies obtained special visas, arriving in Afghanistan in early November, via the China Arab Economic and Trade Promotion Committee in Kabul and Afghanistan’s mining ministry. Ganfeng Lithium, China’s biggest lithium producer, told […]

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Japan reopens embassy in Kabul

Takashi Okada, Japan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, says his country has decided to reopen its embassy in Kabul after the new government ensured Tokyo about its security. Enamullah Samangani, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s deputy spokesman said in a tweet that Takashi Okada raised the issue yesterday during a meeting with Abdul Kabir, the IEA’s political deputy prime minister in Kabul. […]

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US and IEA delegates to resume talks in Doha

US special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West will return to Doha next week for talks with Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials, the US State Department said on Tuesday. Addressing a press briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price said talks between the two parties will focus on a number of issues including counterterrorism, humanitarian aid, and the economic situation in […]

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