Balancing is the most commonplace word in the South Caucasus. This is how the three states approach the war Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine reverberates across the world, the South Caucasus region is especially susceptible to the dark geopolitical mood music. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are balancing between potential Russian reprisals and the need, near […]

Earlier this month, the Taliban ordered a halt to poppy production, and the production, use, and transit of other narcotics. Given the dire state of the Afghan economy, the move will likely ruin the small farmers who grow and harvest much of the crop, and see the loss of the income from opiates, between $1.8 billion and $2.7 billion according […]

How did the political crisis escalate? The Pakistani parliament voted no confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan in the early hours of 10 April, in a culmination of tensions that had been building for some time. Khan’s main opponents, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), had long insisted that […]

Militants ambushed Pakistani troops in a former Taliban stronghold in the northwest, triggering an intense shootout in which two officers and two insurgents were killed, the military said Tuesday. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The pre-dawn gunbattle happened in South Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a military statement. It said […]

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on his election as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. According to the Russian embassy in Pakistan, Putin has expressed hope that Shehbaz’s activities will “contribute to further development of the Pakistan-Russia cooperation and partner interaction on the Afghan settlement as well as countering international terrorism. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan […]

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday that Sweden has increased its support for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan by $7.2 million. OCHA has confirmed an increase of 70 million kronor, which equals $7.2 million in aid by Sweden to the people of Afghanistan, their statement read. OCHA stated that continuation of assistance for […]

The takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamic Emirate has resulted in the serious erosion of human rights in the country, Washington said on Tuesday. “In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s (IEA) takeover precipitated a humanitarian crisis, and has resulted in serious erosion of human rights, from arbitrary detentions of women, protesters, and journalists, to reprisals against security forces for the former government, […]