Afghanistan U.S. killed al-Qaeda chief in first high-profile strike since Aug 2021 withdrawal, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) targeted Taliban and religious minorities, and Taliban clashed with Pakistani forces. U.S. President Biden 1 Aug confirmed U.S. had killed al-Qaeda chief, Ayman al Zawahiri, in drone strike in capital Kabul on 31 July; Washington accused Taliban authorities of violating Feb 2020 […]

The rise of China triggered a regional power shift that has been felt across East Asia and into the Himalayas. As China changes the status quo of the Indo-Pacific, it talks of promoting a multipolar world. But in practice it has a problem with multipolar Asia and is unwilling to accommodate India’s interests. In response to this, India is aligning […]

Perceptionaly, China is in an impassive ‘spectator mode’ as Pakistan flounders on the edge of an abyss in its ongoing existential crisis mainly engineered by former PM Imran Khan politically displaced in a Constitutional coup. When Pakistan is in a state of acute economic meltdown and reeling under widespread devastation of floods, does it behove former PM Imran Khan to […]

Cambodia’s foreign policy is largely shaped by the worldview of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has more than four decades of practical experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs. Understanding Cambodian foreign policy, including its decision to co-sponsor the UN resolution to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, means grasping the pragmatism that informs Hun Sen’s decision-making. Hun Sen does not buy […]

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India from 5 to 8 September 2022. During the visit, Dhaka and New Delhi signed seven memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreed on certain issues of bilateral importance. One of the MoUs is on the water withdrawal by India and Bangladesh from the common border river, Kushiyara, a distributary of the Barak River. The […]

Five people were killed in a blast in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, including an influential anti-Taliban tribal leader, police said, in the fist major bombing in over a decade in an area that was once a battleground between security forces and militants. The attack comes as fears rise about the return of Pakistani Taliban, also known as the TTP, to […]

The Taliban said on Tuesday they had killed 40 rebel force members, including four commanders, in the northern Afghan province of Panjshir. The Taliban proclaimed victory over the province in September 2021, weeks after they took over the capital Kabul as foreign forces withdrew. Resistance groups have since said they have been carrying out operations in the area and clashing […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday that casualties were reported in clashes across the Durand Line on Tuesday after Pakistan opened fire. IEA spokesman Bilal Karimi said Pakistani forces had tried to build a post close to the Durand Line and when approached by IEA officials, Pakistan opened fire. “After that, mutual firing also took place, which may […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday there was no truth in Pakistan’s claims earlier in the day that Masood Azhar the leader of Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammed group had taken refuge in Afghanistan. “We would like to point out that the Islamic Emirate does not allow any armed opposition of any country to operate in our own territory,” said Abdul […]

Washington is to set up a new fund that could eventually serve as a mechanism to free up Afghanistan’s frozen assets in order to promote economic stability in the country, senior US officials told CNN. According to the officials, the Biden administration has worked with Switzerland and Afghan economists to set up this fund. The US is moving $3.5 billion […]