Questions about former Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang’s fate remain unanswered after the Chinese government abruptly replaced him with his predecessor, Wang Yi, on Tuesday. Analysts say the opaque nature of his removal will reduce global confidence in China and increase uncertainties that eventually may paralyze China’s governance system. “China’s system is compromised,” Alfred Wu, an expert on Chinese politics […]

The fall of Kabul in August 2021 prompted discussions about the end of Western influence in the country and an opportunity for China and Russia to dig their heels in the ‘graveyard of empires’. In the immediate aftermath, in contrast with Afghanistan’s other neighbours, Russia didn’t close its embassy in Kabul, with many Russian officials retaining a positive perception about […]

The three-day state visit on July 25-27 by Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, accompanied by a military delegation, to Pyongyang is the first-ever such high-level visit from Moscow in the post-Soviet era. Shoigu’s meeting with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday altogether elevates what would have passed as a friendly gesture by the Kremlin on the 70th […]

The third Quad leaders’ summit had been expected to be a visually stunning affair at the iconic Sydney Opera House. The leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US had planned to signal the Quad’s coming of age with an expansive agenda of cooperation. Yet, Joe Biden’s budget wrangling with House Republicans led to the cancellation of the event in […]

At least 40 people were killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police said. The blast took place at a gathering of the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, known for its links to hardline political Islam, in the former tribal area of […]

Afghanistan’s deputy minister of migration has met with Turkey’s ambassador to Kabul and said deporting Afghan migrants is not a permanent solution, and that Ankara should instead take in workers on an official quota basis. Mohammad Arsla Kharouti told the Turkish envoy Cihad Erginay that as migrants are deported, another group enters Turkey illegally. Kharouti said that Erginay promised to […]

A delegation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) led by Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will travel to Doha on Saturday for talks with US officials. The delegation is expected to meet US Special Representative Thomas West and special envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights, Rina Amiri on Sunday. IEA’s Foreign Ministry said that the delegation […]

Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi left for Doha this evening at the head of a delegation to meet with representatives of the United States. Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman for the ministry tweeted the Muttaqi will discuss with the American representatives about banking sanctions, removing the names of caretaker government officials from the black list and […]

FATA was a hotbed for the recruitment and training of terrorists after 9/11. Terrorists established their strongholds in this area as the state authority and governance was never extended to these lands since 1947. As Pakistani laws were not implemented there, the area was known as ‘Aalaqa Ghair.’ From 2002-03, the Pakistan army entered the area to uproot hideouts of […]

The US-Taliban deal, signed in February 2020, was supposed to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan and bring peace and stability to the region. But instead of achieving its goals, the deal has unleashed a wave of violence and instability that has spilled over into neighboring Pakistan. Pakistan, which shares a long and porous border with Afghanistan, has been hit […]