Long characterised by ‘stability’ and excessive concentration of power, Malaysia’s politics have become fluid and unpredictable. With elite compacts and agreements hammered out behind closed doors, the country now has public plot twists worthy of a Netflix series. Until 2018, Malaysia was ruled by Barisan Nasional (BN), a multi-ethnic coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). That year, […]

As part of his trip to the US to attend the ASEAN-US Special Summit held in Washington, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had also a bilateral meeting with the US President Joe Biden on 12 May during which both leaders discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern. The summit marked 45 years of […]

Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been subjected to jibes and invectives from political opponents, armchair pundits and the media, both mainstream and social. But political realties being what they are, the 73 year-old sixth time Prime Minister is more likely to survive in office than be hounded out of it. In fact, he is expected to get […]

Some segments of the Afghan society are looking at Pakistan with suspicion, says a former ambassador. Syed Abrar Hussain, speaking at an event in Islamabad, urged the neighbours to take effective steps to overcome their trust deficit. The ex-ambassador to Afghanistan asked the governments and peoples of both countries to realise that gaps were detrimental to them. With multiple socio-cultural […]

A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) started in New Delhi on Monday. Delegates from China, Pakistan and Russia are attending the event, which would continue until May 19, said a media report ANI reported the agenda for the SCO summit included the formation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan and humanitarian crisis there. In November […]

Pakistani officials said Sunday militant attacks in the country’s northwest had killed at least eight people, including security force members, children and members of the minority Sikh group. The deadliest attack occurred in North Waziristan, a volatile district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing three soldiers and three children, according to a military statement. It said the children were aged between […]

Tashkent will host a high-level international conference on Afghanistan at the end of July, Uzbekistan’s interim Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Norov announced. Norov said the key focus would be on security, political stability and the socio-economic development of the region. “As for Afghanistan, unfortunately, we are seeing a decrease in the attention of the international community to the situation […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has shown interest in buying oil and gas from Russia and continuing work on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Pakistan’s Business Standard reported that this comes after Russian energy giants like Gazprom have been hit by sanctions from the Western countries. However, Jamal Nasir Garwal, the IEA’s charge d’affaires in Moscow, has reaffirmed Afghanistan’s […]

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) anti-terror body Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) representatives came together Monday for the start of a three-day meeting in New Delhi. Among those attending is a three-member Pakistani delegation that arrived in India on Saturday via the Wagah border. The situation in Afghanistan and the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country is expected to be on […]