Abstract: Although the Islamic State’s official affiliate in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan (ISK), first emerged as a threat in 2015, its global notoriety was heightened when it struck the Kabul airport during the Taliban takeover of the city in August 2021, leading to questions about the future stability of the country and the Taliban’s ability to contain the revived terrorist […]

U.K. anti-terrorism police arrested two more men in Manchester Wednesday in connection with their investigation of a British man who took Jewish worshippers hostage at a Texas synagogue. Four of the six arrested are still in custody. British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, 44, took four people hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15. The nearly 11-hour […]

This is a series of three articles in which we aim to communicate our opinion on why it is a dire need for Pakistan to establish a national cyber command and what strategic challenges such a command will need to tackle to be effective. This first article aims to explain how cyberspace has become a new strategic competitive space. The […]

It was in 2011, when former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned Pakistan about the dangers of providing safe sanctuaries and sustenance to terrorists by saying that “you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours.” She further added that “Eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in […]

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its latest Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) has maintained the policy rate at 9.75% which was in line with market expectations and in line with the forward guidance given in the last MPS. According to SBP, it had taken several key measures to achieve a more sustainable economic growth and lower inflation which includes cumulative […]

Kazakstan’s wealth is in full display in Aktau. Originally a Soviet city built around uranium mining, the expanse sprawling along the Caspian Sea shore is today at the core of the country’s oil and gas industry. But the city’s vast riches are not enjoyed by all its inhabitants. Aina Akisheva, a 56-year-old cook, makes 200,000 tenge a month (458 US […]

On January 20, 2022, three persons were killed and over 33 were injured in a bomb explosion near Pan Mandi in the New Anarkali Bazar area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab. The Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA)’s spokesperson Mureed Baloch claimed that the target of the blast were the Habib Bank employees. The BNA was formed earlier this month […]

Gunmen shot and killed a Pakistani policeman who was providing security for polio vaccination workers in the northwest on Tuesday, according to police. The assailants fled the scene, and no one claimed responsibility for the attack in Kohat, local police official Dikdar Khan said. He added that the body of the slain policeman had been transported to a hospital. No […]

Three days of talks between the Taliban, Western diplomats and other delegates on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and human rights were wrapping up Tuesday in Norway, with acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi praising the discussions, which he said “went very well.” The closed-door meetings in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital of Oslo came at a crucial time […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Tuesday they arrested 40 people in northern Mazar-e-Sharif while they were trying to leave the country illegally. IEA deputy spokesman Inamullah Samangani tweeted that the would-be migrants were arrested on Monday while trying to leave the country illegally by air. According to Samangani some of the men had been released after being interrogated, […]