INTRODUCTION Although diplomats from both Vietnam and the United States have given special prominence to the two countries’ growing comprehensive partnership, many challenges remain.[1] In particular, despite gradual concrete improvement in recent years, defense and security cooperation has not met expectations. Vietnamese policymakers’ indecisiveness and their exaggerated fear of potential retaliations from China have been cited by analysts as reasons […]

India has constructed the Chenab Railway Bridge, which at 359 meters high from the surface of the earth and 1,315 meters long, connects India with the disputed territory of Kashmir. It is a concrete arch bridge constructed between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. Through this bridge, Srinagar will be linked to the rest of […]

Oil is the second biggest energy source for India, accounting for 29 percent of total energy in the country. The notable feature of the oil energy is that while all other energies are indigenously sourced, oil is an import based energy. Nearly 90 percent of crude oil is imported. Of this, over 58 percent of crude oil is imported from […]

Is Pakistan becoming a fly once again in the ointment for India’s expanding strategic partnership with the United States (US)? The recent kerfuffle over the renewed US engagement with Pakistan, however, appears to be a storm in a teacup rather than a major change in the US approach to the South Asian siblings and rivals–India and Pakistan. The suspicions in […]

Special forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) raided a Daesh hideout in capital Kabul on Friday, killing six militants, officials said. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for IEA, said that initially two militants were arrested and then a Daesh hideout was discovered and raided in PD 8 of the city. Six militants were killed in the operation. Weapons, hand […]

Pakistan has been taken off an international grey list that warrants increased surveillance for terrorism financing, the head of the international money laundering watchdog which makes the list said on Friday. The decision, which provides a boost to the reputation of the crisis-ridden South Asian nation, was taken at the end of a two-day meeting in Paris, Financial Action Task […]

Richard Bennett, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan along with his delegation met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai Saturday. At the meeting, Stanekzai called on the United Nations for help in solving economic problems, banking restrictions, treating drug addicts and other similar problems. Bennett also promised to talk to foreign […]

The perils of Taliban-led regime in Kabul have become unmistakably clear for Pakistan as the country has witnessed an unbelievable 51 per cent increase in the number of terrorist attacks in a single year since the militant group seized power in Afghanistan in August last year. According to details, as many as 433 people were killed and 719 wounded in […]

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog, starts a two-day meeting in Paris on Thursday and is expected to take up removal of Pakistan from a list of countries under “increased monitoring”. In a meeting in June, the FATF said it was keeping Pakistan on the list – also known as the “grey […]

US Senator Josh Hawley has called for the establishment of a Senate Select Committee to investigate the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last year. According to an ABC-affiliated news outlet, Hawley said: “There needs to be real accountability here.” Hawley introduced legislation to establish a 20-member committee to review intelligence, interview U.S. officials, and to hold public hearings. […]