Islamabad: Pakistan’s prime minister has said that the role of provincial governments in the implementation of the National Action Plan would be restored to combat terrorism. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said there had been a surge in terror incidents in Pakistan during the last four years as the role of provinces in implementing a comprehensive 20-point plan to counter extremism […]

Pakistan sentenced one of the militants linked to the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India to 15 years in prison for terror financing unrelated to the assaults, according to court documents viewed by The Associated Press on Monday. Sajid Majeed Mir, 43, was arrested in 2020 and sentenced in May, according to the documents, but his detention and sentencing were […]

Afghanistan’s Taliban administration on Saturday called on international governments to roll back sanctions and lift a freeze on central bank assets following the earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands homeless. The 6.1-magnitude quake that struck the east of the country early on Wednesday destroyed or damaged 10,000 homes and injured about 2,000 people, straining the country’s […]

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are being accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses as they attempt to quell an armed rebellion in a northern region. The United Nations and rights watchdogs on Monday called reports of abuses in the turbulent Balkhab district in northern Sar-e Pol province alarming and demanded that the ruling Islamist group hold […]

Pakistan is a strange land where people seem to be ‘appearing’, ‘disappearing’ and ‘reappearing’ all the time. While this strange occurrence follows no discernable pattern, but it does appear to have a definite link to sensitive issues, mostly those related to terrorism. For example, despite New Delhi providing Islamabad with his exact whereabouts in Karachi, Islamabad kept denying that 1993 […]

Now that the seven other members are continuing to meet as the Arctic Council but without the presence of a Russian representative who according to its bylaws is chairman in office until next year, Moscow may choose to create an alternative organization for the Arctic consisting of itself, China and some other countries. Dmitry Zhuravlyev, the head of the Moscow […]

Good news from Guantánamo, where the prison’s population has dropped to 36 with the release of the Afghan prisoner Asadullah Haroon Gul. In a deal negotiated with the ruling Taliban government in Afghanistan, Gul was flown to Qatar, where he was welcomed by Taliban representatives who then arranged from him to be flown home to Afghanistan, to be reunited with […]

In a highly controversial decision, Indian authorities launched Agnipath Recruitment Scheme to induct youngsters into the tri-services for a short term. The scheme has already stimulated mass protests across India by the army aspirants, the protest is also joined by the farmers in Punjab who had already given a tough time to the Indian government through a year-long procession against […]

With their fourth leaders’ meeting in May 2022, the Quad has come a long way since senior officials from Australia, India, Japan and the United States first convened on the sidelines of ASEAN-led summits five years ago. Early doubts about the Quad’s sustainability should surely now give way to firmer beliefs that the arrangement is set to be a persistent […]

The flying visit of a team of top Indian officials headed by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Thursday, indicates New Delhi’s wish not only to be the “first responder” to any crisis in the neighborhood but also to be a “constant companion” to troubled neighbors engaged in rebuilding their economies. That the US is also anxious to help crisis-ridden Sri […]