India’s unique culture and ancient history have sheltered many for millennia. Afghan migrants have flooded India for decades due to the war in their homeland. Even when the nation’s spirit is right, legal and administrative responses are often insufficient. Afghan refugees have sought asylum in India since the 1980s from violence and turmoil in Afghanistan. The UNHCR reports that approximately […]

Tajikistan has ratified an agreement with Beijing to increase the frequency of bilateral military exercises with China over the next five years, an arrangement that will allow China to expand its military influence there in ways that may challenge Russia’s which is based on the presence of a sizeable Russian base there. Russian experts are playing down this development and […]

Ever since the Taliban seized power in Kabul two years ago, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has had a fractious relationship with its immediate neighbor to the north. Tajikistan is the only one of the five Central Asian states not to pursue constructive diplomatic ties with the Taliban. Dushanbe was from the very outset critical of the regime in Kabul […]

Pakistan’s three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif heads back home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile in London, seeking to wrestle back support for his party three months ahead of a general election. Sharif’s return comes as his main rival, Imran Khan, is in jail, but the cricketer-turned-politician remains popular across Pakistan following his ouster from premiership in 2022, […]

A number of Afghan traders and freight forwarders in China said at a press conference that Pakistan has imposed restrictions on the transfer of goods, and with the imposition of these restrictions, 8,700 containers carrying commercial goods have been stopped in the Karachi port. According to these businessmen, Pakistan issues a fine of $200 dollars for each container, so they […]

Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdulsalam Hanafi on Thursday called on the Pakistani government to reconsider its decision to expel Afghan refugees, saying the decision would create gap between peoples of the two countries. Hanafi, in meeting with Pakistan’s charge d’affaires, said that Afghanistan and Pakistan are two neighboring Muslim countries, and maintaining good relations between them benefits both […]

The United States “strongly” encouraged Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking protection and urged them to uphold obligations in treatment of refugees, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday. Pakistan has set a Nov. 1 deadline for all illegal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country or face forcible expulsion. Some 1.73 […]

Ahmad Vahid, the Minister of Interior of Iran, said on Wednesday that illegal Afghan immigrants should leave Iran. “We organize those who are legal and have visas,” Ahmad Vahidi added. He also said that creating differences between Iranians and Afghan immigrants is the work of hypocrites. “Iran helped these people and gave them facilities so that their students could go […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping’s huge Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister said on Thursday. Beijing has sought to develop its ties with the IEA government since it took over in 2021. Last month, China became the first […]

China’s release of its standard map has produced outrage and alarm in several countries, yet Beijing remains steadfast in continuing its historical approach toward its borders.In the waning days of August 2023, closely following a BRICS summit and mere days ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and G20 meetings, Beijing revealed its latest seemingly innocuous “standard” map. […]