Among Afghanistan’s neighbors, Pakistan’s longstanding and deep relationship with the Taliban was unique. But as terrorism spirals out of control and refugees spill into bordering states, Islamabad has lost its line to Kabul. When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, neighboring Islamabad found itself in a unique position. One of the Pakistani generals, believed to have played a […]

Pakistan’s military-backed political establishment is at odds with a population that largely desires democratically elected civilian rule. The country’s ever-present terrorist threat is likely to intensify in the run-up to national elections, which were postponed to January 2024. The difficulties facing Pakistan’s leaders could both aggravate and be aggravated by regional and geopolitical dynamics, particularly those concerning India, China, and […]

Indonesia’s state-owned defense holdings company on Wednesday denied allegations by human rights activists that its units had sold weapons to Myanmar’s military in violation of bans on arms supplies to the junta-ruled country. DEFEND ID said its firearms subsidiary, PT Pindad, had exported only sports ammunition products to Myanmar in 2016 for a regional shooting contest. It also said that […]

In India, Mahatma Gandhi and Narendra Modi represent different eras and ideas. Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful opposition to British colonial tyranny shaped world history. In contrast, Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has drawn attention and divided minds owing to his disputed policies and the seeming rise in violence. It’s crucial to compare Gandhi’s nonviolent approach to Modi’s India and reflect […]

Pakistan, a nation known for its rich cultural diversity and vibrant heritage, is currently grappling with a troubling phenomenon: the rise of hate politics. In recent years, political parties in the country have increasingly employed divisive rhetoric, hate speech, and intolerance as strategies to secure their agendas and gain electoral support. This piece shed light on the politics of hate […]

Malaysia’s participation in the recently concluded UN General Assembly, while laden with high hopes and expectations on the returns on the country’s economic and soft power revival, remains a missed opportunity for a bigger showcase of the country’s global return in role, impact and influence. The UN is divided, and the world remains divided at the economic, ideological and security […]

The United States should be applying lessons for when and how to negotiate with adversaries to other conflicts — starting with Ukraine. Over the course of 20 years, the United States made strategic mistakes in its war with the Taliban that helped fuel the insurgency and likely precluded an earlier end to the war. The U.S. government became fixated on […]

A pair of Chinese scam artists wanted to turn a radiation-soaked Pacific atoll into a future metropolis. They ended up in an American jail instead. How they got there is an untold tale of international bribery and grifting that stretched to the very center of the United Nations. Chinese-born Cary Yan and Gina Zhou were sentenced by a U.S. court […]

A senior Pakistani diplomat said Thursday that while the Taliban had brought peace and security to Afghanistan, increased terrorist attacks from the neighboring country threatened stability in Pakistan, putting strains on an already difficult bilateral relationship. “Unfortunately, the peace dividends for us are missing,” Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, told an international seminar in Islamabad. He said his […]

Pakistan said on Friday that it would repatriate all illegal immigrants including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals in orderly phases rather than in one go. Pakistan’s announcement on Tuesday of a Nov. 1 deadline for people to leave or face forcible expulsion has frayed already soured relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who said the threat to force out Afghan […]