After a tough 2022, China seeks to move toward recovery in 2023, amid stagnation in the US and deep recession in the Eurozone.  Battered by domestic challenges and disruptive external headwinds, Chinese economy has coped with a tough year. The lockdown of Guangzhou’s transportation hub, a rising number of cases in Beijing and other major cities highlight the most recent […]

The dollar’s strength is placing pressure on economies around the world, including in developing Asia. What makes this bout of dollar strength unique is that the stress is not limited to Asia’s developing economies. Asian economies are diverse and the direct financial impact of dollar strength varies. Some regional economies have significant foreign currency debts and limited foreign currency reserves. […]

One person was killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack near the Kabul office of the Hezb-e-Islami party, former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said, the same day as an apparent failed assassination attempt at the Pakistan Embassy. Multiple attackers were killed and several guards injured in the suicide bomb attack, according to three Hezb-e-Islami sources and one source […]

Pakistan warned Thursday that cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan “is both alarming and dangerous” for regional peace, calling on the neighboring country’s ruling Taliban to honor their anti-terror pledges. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah issued the warning amid a new wave of deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly security forces.

The Islamist Taliban government has defended banning FM radio broadcasts from two U.S.-funded news media, including the Voice of America, in Afghanistan, alleging they were offending local laws. The ban on VOA and Azadi Radio, an Afghan extension of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, went into effect Thursday, a day after the Taliban’s ministry of information and culture said […]

The United States is committed to using its full set of counterterrorism tools to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, including al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as part of our relentless efforts to ensure that terrorists do not use Afghanistan as a platform for international terrorism. Yesterday, the Department of […]

Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul continue to rise. While Pakistan has made efforts to smooth over the growing rift, reopening a key border crossing at Spin Boldak-Chaman closed following cross-border gunfire that killed a Pakistani security guard on Nov. 13 and sending its minister of state for foreign affairs on an official visit to the Afghan capital at the end of […]

Israel was the first country in the Middle East to recognize the People Republic of China (PRC), in 1950. Although the two states did not normalize their relations until 1992,[1] since then the bilateral relationship has developed extensively, especially in the economic sphere.[2] As Yellinek has established, “Starting in the early 2000s, ties between the two countries began to blossom, mostly […]

The December 2020 Moroccan-Israeli normalization deal has evolved from a vehicle enabling Morocco to gain long-sought U.S. recognition of its claims on Western Sahara to a broader strategic partnership with Israel. Geopolitically, the relationship provides clear benefits to both sides: for Morocco overt access to Israeli security and military cooperation, and for Israel greater acceptance, presence, and potential influence in […]

Pakistan has handed over medicines assistance for three hospitals built by the country in Afghanistan. The handover ceremony on Friday was attended by Afghan Public Health Minister Qalandar Ibad and his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Qadir Patel. The first consignment is leaving for Jinnah Hospital, Kabul. Second will be dispatched to Amanullah Logari Hospital in Logar and third to Nishtar Kidney […]