United States Counterinsurgency Operations (COIN) in Afghanistan and Iraq were significantly hampered by the haphazard manner in which the United States military deploys units to combat zones. Replacement in Place/Transfer of Authority (RIP/TOA) is the process of the outgoing military unit in a respective Area of Operations (AO) transferring the authority and responsibility of that AO to the incoming military […]

On April 18, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the country’s economic data for the first quarter of 2023. Against the backdrop of global economic recovery efforts and ongoing geopolitical competition, whether China, as the world’s second-largest economy, can maintain stable growth has a significant impact on both its economy, as well as on the world. In terms of […]

On April 13, Samarkand hosted the fourth ministerial conference of Afghan neighbouring countries which included Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took part in the event. The Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan mechanism was established in 2021 on Pakistan’s initiative with a view to evolving a regional approach on situation in Afghanistan. Pakistan hosted […]

The Taliban’s relationship with Afghanistan’s neighbors received a lot of attention on the international stagein the past week. A high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran, along with their de facto Taliban counterpart, took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. A readout from the meeting highlighted concerns that several terrorist groups in Afghanistan “continue […]

China is America’s number one adversary due to Beijing’s willingness and capability to undermine US security, freedom, and prosperity. One pressing way China could strike a blow against US interests would be to violently force Taiwan to unify with mainland China. Doing so would immediately cause a global recession and rupture the US alliance architecture in the Pacific. It would […]

French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to China was met with criticism in many corners of the West, with politicians and commentators panning his obsequiousness with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In the past year, Macron has been heavily criticized for his overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly rebuffed the French leader’s efforts to encourage a ceasefire or […]

On 26 February, the Islamic Republic of Iran joined a small but significant number of countries that allowed diplomats from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to take charge of the embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. This development was a subtle shift from Iran’s earlier insistence on not handing over its embassy to a regime it doesn’t recognise, reiterating its […]

The U.S. can shoot down balloons, call names, and claim that China has “police stations” in New York City. It cannot stop the decline of its own making as it engages in war propaganda theater. “Right now there are changes – the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years – and we are the ones driving these changes […]

Terrorism and violent extremism have plagued Pakistan for decades, causing regional instability and damaging the country’s economic and social fabric. Terrorism has expanded across Pakistan because of the country’s geographic location and because of the continuing war in Afghanistan. In 2022, terrorist acts claimed the lives of over 643 individuals, a 120% increase over 2021. Terrorism is a worldwide problem […]