The Marcos Jr. government is no longer a bystander between the US and China. The risk is that it is sleepwalking into military and nuclear minefields, while fragmenting the ASEAN. After the recent Ayungin Shoal laser-shining incident, Philippine-Chinese tensions have escalated in the South China Sea, again. Perceptive columnists, like Rigoberto Tiglao of the Manila Times, have connected dots: “[President] […]

Afghanistan, under the Taliban’s control, has become a victim of one of its biggest humanitarian crises wrought by widespread food shortages, unemployment and restrictions on women’s fundamental rights. The prevalent turmoil in Afghanistan has created a conducive environment for the resurgence of radical terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISKP) and Al-Qaeda. Taliban-led Afghanistan is thus posing […]

Iran’s special envoy to Kabul met with his Chinese counterpart on Sunday for talks on the situation in Afghanistan. Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s special representative and ambassador to Afghanistan, met with Yue Xiaoyong, in Kabul and held discussions on Beijing-Tehran cooperation with the aim of establishing peace and stability in the country. In a post on his Twitter account, Qomi […]

China’s trade with Afghanistan has been growing fast and it may become the second-largest trading nation with Afghanistan in 2023 after Pakistan, a situation that bodes well for the continuation of the CPEC part of the Belt & Road Initiative into Afghanistan, as per Silk Road Briefing (SRB). Silk Road Briefing provides global and regional intelligence to assist and monitor […]

Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said in a statement on Sunday that the Islamic Emirate will proceed with plans to convert former foreign military bases into special economic zones in the country. “It was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should progressively take control of the remaining military bases of the foreign forces […]

The leader of Hizb-e-Islami says that Daesh does not have a significant presence in Afghanistan and that the group carries out its attacks by “buying people who are ignorant and uninformed about Islam”. At a meeting in Kabul, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said that terrorist groups including Daesh do not have a physical footprint in Afghanistan, and the attacks claimed by this […]