Militance by separatist insurgents in Jammu, part of India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory, is resurfacing after a gap of 14 years, a former top military officer told VOA June 20. There have been at least six deadly attacks, resulting in the loss of 33 lives, including 10 civilians, since 2021. The first wave of militancy emerged in 1990. Deependra Singh […]

Frustration with the rising threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan emerged at a meeting this week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a defense and economic alliance platform consisting of China, Russia, India, Pakistan and four central Asian nations. Russia and Tajikistan say Afghanistan, which holds an uncertain observer status in the SCO following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, […]

Recent reports suggest that Russia has made limited use of riot control agent as a weapon during its war against Ukraine. If true, what might explain this particular use – and what are the prospects of more widescale deployment of chemical weapons by Moscow? On 2 May 2023, state-controlled Channel 1 reported that Russia has used riot control agent (RCA) […]

The army’s crackdown may appear to have been effective in undermining Imran Khan and dismantling his political party, but the long-term consequences could be serious. Too much time has been spent on ugly political manoeuvres, whereas the focus needs to be on the economy. A failure to address Pakistan’s economic woes could lead to popular unrest and present the army […]

FlashbackOn June 13, 2019, government of Pakistan issued a notification approving the creation of National Development Council [NDC] comprising 13 members under the then Prime Minister Imran Khan, which included the serving army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. The ‘terms of reference’ assigned to this newly created body were, “set policies and strategies for development; formulated and tailor policies to […]

In recent months, growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait as well as the rapid and coordinated Group of Seven (G7) economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have raised questions—in G7 capitals and in Beijing alike—over whether similar measures could be imposed on China in a Taiwan crisis. This report examines the range of plausible economic countermeasures on the table […]

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar visited Torkham crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan this week and urged officials to deal with Afghans with respect and care. Pakistan ministry of foreign affairs said on Twitter that Khar also called for the completion of the Integrated Transit Trade Management System (ITTMS) at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. She was […]

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been on the warpath in the streets of Pakistan against the military-led establishment ever since he was voted out by parliament last year. Once seen as the military’s darling and reportedly assisted by the military and its intelligence agencies in the elections that brought him to power in 2018, he has now turned […]

Washington and New Delhi Share Interests, Not Values It has been a ritual for decades. Whenever American policymakers travel to India, they sing paeans to the beauty of Indian politics, to the country’s diversity, and to the shared values connecting—in the words of multiple U.S. presidents—“the world’s oldest democracy” and “the world’s largest democracy.” This rhetoric may be gauzy, and […]

America Is Not In March, at the end of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood at the door of the Kremlin to bid his friend farewell. Xi told his Russian counterpart, “Right now, there are changes—the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years—and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Putin, […]