China’s use of economic coercion, grey zone operations in the East and South China Seas, and threats to reunify Taiwan by force are part of a growing plethora of concerns that are linked to Japan, Australia and other like-minded countries adopting defence postures to what China itself has admitted is an explicit effort by China “to shape an ideological environment […]

A joint naval exercise including the military forces of Iran, Russia and China will kick off in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean on Friday, January 21, an Iranian commander said. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the spokesperson for the upcoming exercise said the drill, dubbed ‘naval security belt combined war game 2022’, will begin tomorrow with the participation […]

Pakistan National Security Policy 2022 unveiled this month cannot escape analysis of its content and intent in the context of US-China-India context as the very nature of Pakistan’s existing State-structure with ‘Garrison State’ mindsets would not admit geoeconomics to subvert Pakistan’s over-obsession that it exists besieged on both flanks. For a change, while Pakistan expresses in this new Document its […]

China and the United States have engaged in a renewed spat over the activity of a U.S. naval ship in the South China Sea, with Washington asserting its right to navigate territorial waters and Beijing warning of “serious consequences.” The USS Benfold guided-missile destroyer conducted a “freedom of navigation operation” (FONOP) in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the […]

The Russian-led military operation in Kazakhstan has presented an important test for Moscow’s ties with Beijing. In early January, Kazakhstan was shaken by nationwide protests that sparked uncertainty in the central Asian nation that had hitherto remained largely stable. Though much remains to be seen as to how the events exactly transpired, Russia’s reaction to the unrest was quite direct […]

Taiwan, a perennially sensitive issue between Japan and China, gained increased salience in the run-up to Japanese elections in fall 2021. In separate incidents in late August and early September, a Chinese flotilla sailed through the waters between Taiwan and Japan’s island of Yonaguni and on through the Miyako Strait for what the Chinese media described as a warning to […]

A car bomb detonated in western Herat province on Saturday evening, killing at least seven people, sources said. Herat police headquarters said in a statement that a vehicle carrying explosives detonated in the Haji Abbas area in PD12 of Herat city at 6:50 this evening. Police said an investigation had been started into the incident. Herat Intelligence officials said a […]

With a burgeoning alliance between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP, Pakistan faces a major insurgency challenge in 2022. In 2021, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency escalated its challenge against Pakistan. Operating from bases in Afghanistan, and with a growing presence inside Pakistan, the group mounted an increasing number of attacks against Pakistani security forces — as well as against […]

Job losses in Afghanistan following the change in administration in August 2021 totaled more than half a million in the third quarter and may reach 900,000 by mid-2022, according to new estimates released by the International Labour Organization (ILO). According to the ILO, the estimated 14% loss by mid-2022 reflects workers pushed out of employment due to the change in […]

A bomb blast ripped through a crowded market in eastern Pakistan on Thursday (January 20), killing three people and wounding over 20, police said, Reuters reported. A police spokesman, Arif Rana, told Reuters it was a bomb, saying a time device rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a shop in the market. A nine-year-old boy is among the three dead, […]