On February 3, 2024, a ‘divisional committee member (DCM)’ of the ‘Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division’ of the Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Dasru, carrying a cash award of INR 500,000 on his head, was killed by the Police during an exchange of fire at the Kakerkupa area in the Kandhamal District of Odisha. One Policeman also suffered […]

Pakistan’s national elections on February 8 failed to produce a clear winner, triggering intense political jockeying among rival parties to form a coalition government. Candidates allied with jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats — 93 out of the 265 available — in the National Assembly. But they were forced to run as independents after Khan’s Pakistan […]

Pakistan confirmed Monday that separate counterterrorism raids near the Afghan border within the past week had killed two senior leaders of a regional Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K). Military officials identified the slain militant commanders as Surat Gul and Abdul Shakoor, also known as Abu Hamza. Both were targeted in intelligence-driven security operations in northwestern Khyber and […]

Established In: 2015; Key Members: Hafiz Saeed Khan, Shahab al-Muhajir; Operational Area: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India; Size: 1,000 (US estimate); 2,500-4,000 (UN report); 10,000 (Russian estimate); Involved In: Bomb Attacks, Assasinations, Armed Attacks, Kidnapping; Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) is the Islamic State’s Central Asian province and remains active three years after its inception. The Islamic State announced its expansion to […]

Established In: November 1990; Key Members: Syed Salahuddin; Operational Area: Pakistan, India; Involved In: Armed Attacks, Assasinations, Bomb Attacks, Kidnapping; The Muttahida Jehad Council (MJC), a conglomerate of Pakistan-based Jehadi outfits, was formed in November 1990 to bring under a single platform all the outfits involved in the terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The MJC, for long an […]

Pakistani security forces on Sunday killed a “high-profile” member of the Daesh militant group in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said. The militant, Surat Gul, was killed in an intelligence-based operation on the reported presence of a high-value target in the Khyber district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing. “Weapons, […]

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, met with Ruslan Adelgiriyev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation and Special Representative on Climate Change, at his office on Sunday. Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian Ambassador in Kabul, also attended the meeting, Baradar’s office said. According to the office their discussions encompassed collaborative economic and trade initiatives, […]

Abdul Karim and Abdul Zahir Saber, who have been living in Oman since being released from Guantanamo Bay in 2017, arrived in Kabul on Monday morning, the ministry of interior said. According to a statement issued by Abdul Matin Qani, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, Zahir and Karim were imprisoned in Guantanamo in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Both […]

On February 3, 2024, the Afghan Taliban’s state-owned Pashtu-language newspaper “Hewad Daily” published an interview with Husam Badran, the spokesman of Hamas, in which he said that the defeat of the U.S. and NATO forces by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) in 2021 as well as similar experiences against occupation forces in other countries such […]

The ‘Realist’ school of thought rests in the idea that states are only ever bothered about issues that concern them – and therefore are more inclined towards pursuing their self-interest. These ‘National interests’ are a complex blend of historical, geopolitical, and strategic factors that shape their foreign policies. A case in point is the longstanding conflict between India and Pakistan […]