China’s media sway and influence-seeking drive throughout the world have been gaining intensity and scope, as underlined by the recent report from Freedom House. Global perception and opinion on China have been on a nosedive since the pandemic started and have now reached the lowest level, which prompted a scramble for a more intensive persuasive and propagandistic drive from Beijing, […]

The Pentagon said the proposed sale “greatly improves Pakistan’s ability to support counterterrorism operations through its robust air-to-ground capability”. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took a sharp dig at the US deciding to send the F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme to Pakistan earlier this month to meet ‘current and future counterterrorism threats’, he said “you are not fooling anybody […]

The Taliban have signed a provisional deal with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. Azizi said his ministry was working to diversify its trading partners and that Russia had offered the Taliban administration a discount to average global commodity prices. The move, the first known […]

India declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) Islamic group and its affiliates unlawful on Wednesday, accusing them of involvement in terrorism and banning them for five years, after authorities detained more than 100 PFI members this month. The PFI said it had dissolved itself and asked its members to stop their activities. “As law-abiding citizens of our great country, […]

On September 21, 2022, Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah congratulated the Government Forces for freeing Buddha Pahad in Jharkhand, after almost three decades of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) dominance, and tweeted, A historic milestone in the internal security of the country has been crossed. Under the leadership of PM @narendramodi ji, the security forces [SFs] have achieved unprecedented […]

On September 10, 2022, two explosions hit Dasht-e-Barchi, a Hazara neighborhood in the west of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. The first explosion reportedly occurred at 06:45am (AST) in front of a crowded commercial market and later another bomb exploded at the Pul-e-Khushk bus stop. Taliban’s Ministry of Interior announced that the explosions occurred as a result of sticky […]

The recent visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India once again highlighted the continuous deepening of bilateral relations. In the last one decade or so both countries have not only been able to solve a number of long-pending disputes but also made tremendous progress in trade, commerce and connectivity. Cooperation in the area of energy security has been […]

It is more than one year now since the world’s sole superpower, the US has withdrawn its forces from Afghanistan after staying for 20 years and with trillions of dollars being spent on projecting its military might. Even though this was the longest and costliest military campaign of the US, unfortunately, the US, intentionally or unintentionally, somehow ignored to rebuild […]

Present-day Indian rulers, who are keen on establishing India’s presence in Central Asia, can draw inspiration from the daring and enterprising Indian traders of the medieval era, who were key participants in the trade along the Central Asian Silk Road. In Medieval times, Central Asia, now comprising the independent Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, were not known […]

In mid-September 2022, the nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for its 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State. Because China, India, and Pakistan are members of the SCO, the organization represents about 40 percent of the world’s population; with the addition of Russia, the SCO countries make up 60 percent of the Eurasian territory […]