What is happening? The Communist Party of China (CPC) is nearly through its twentieth Party Congress, a key event held twice per decade that signals the direction of Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies. The Congress opened on 16 October with a two-hour speech by President Xi Jinping and will run through 22 October. So far, Xi’s speech and the draft […]

Issue Nine of “Khurasan Ghag [Voice of Khurasan],” the Pashtu-language magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, which is the media arm of the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), by the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), published a rare article targeting cricket, a sport that is immensely popular in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other South Asian countries. It referred to cricket as […]

During the last week of September 2022, it emerged that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) and Russia have signed a provisional agreement to import oil, gas, and wheat from Russia. Following this announcement, the Urdu-language website of the Islamic Emirate published an article defending the Russian-Afghan deal even though the Taliban government is yet to […]

n a video recently released online, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) has accused the Afghan Taliban rulers of working “tirelessly to protect infidels” and of being always willing to offer anything to protect the peace of the unbeliever world in keeping with the 2020 Doha agreement. The 12-minute video, titled “Yes! So Was The Agreement,” was produced and released […]

China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang, 63, followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People as the new leadership team was introduced, meaning […]

Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, confirmed Sunday that new banknotes would soon enter circulation and replace the old, crumbling AFN. DAB’s announcement came on the heels of US special envoy Thomas West’s comments on Friday that a decision had been made to replace the old banknotes with new notes. Afghanistan’s central bank said in a statement that the […]

The Contact Commission with the Afghan Personalities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), said that at least 370 Afghan personalities have returned to Afghanistan in the past year. The commission’s spokesman Ahmadullah Wasiq told Bakhtar news agency that since the establishment of the commission, 370 people including ministers, deputies, and members of parliament, national security employees, journalists and prominent […]

The supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, chaired a meeting with officials from the defense ministry’s intelligence agencies Sunday and called for their cooperation in a number of areas. “Intelligence is an important organ for the success of a system,” Akhundzada said, adding that it was this that “breaks the back of the enemy […]

The United States’ alleged plan to produce weapons jointly with Taiwan to boost its deterrence capabilities against China was met with mixed views by observers and analysts in Taipei. Nikkei Asia was the first media outlet to report on Wednesday that the Biden administration is considering such a plan, quoting three unnamed people familiar with it. Senior U.S. officials have […]

Pakistan’s removal from an international grey list on terrorism financing on Friday came as a boon to Islamabad, currently facing a severe financial, economic and ecological crisis. But there is no guarantee that Islamabad will stop cross-border terrorism in India because of the delisting. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which listed and delisted Pakistan, is an independent international body. […]