Background (FPRI) — On October 10, 2022, the US government published a new National Security Strategy (NSS). The White House issues the unclassified NSS to define the overall strategic priorities and guidelines for all US government agencies and to serve as a foundation for agency-specific strategic documents, like the classified National Defense Strategy (NDS) and the not-yet updated National Military […]

The Taliban said Saturday their special forces had killed nine Islamic State operatives and captured two others in overnight raids in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere in Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government, said that intelligence information had led security forces to an “important hideout of Daesh” in Kabul late Friday. He used a local name for […]

Pakistan has been removed from 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 […]

What is happening? The Communist Party of China (CPC) is nearly through its twentieth Party Congress, a key event held twice per decade that signals the direction of Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies. The Congress opened on 16 October with a two-hour speech by President Xi Jinping and will run through 22 October. So far, Xi’s speech and the draft […]

Issue Nine of “Khurasan Ghag [Voice of Khurasan],” the Pashtu-language magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, which is the media arm of the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), by the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), published a rare article targeting cricket, a sport that is immensely popular in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other South Asian countries. It referred to cricket as […]

During the last week of September 2022, it emerged that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) and Russia have signed a provisional agreement to import oil, gas, and wheat from Russia. Following this announcement, the Urdu-language website of the Islamic Emirate published an article defending the Russian-Afghan deal even though the Taliban government is yet to […]

n a video recently released online, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) has accused the Afghan Taliban rulers of working “tirelessly to protect infidels” and of being always willing to offer anything to protect the peace of the unbeliever world in keeping with the 2020 Doha agreement. The 12-minute video, titled “Yes! So Was The Agreement,” was produced and released […]

China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang, 63, followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People as the new leadership team was introduced, meaning […]

Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, confirmed Sunday that new banknotes would soon enter circulation and replace the old, crumbling AFN. DAB’s announcement came on the heels of US special envoy Thomas West’s comments on Friday that a decision had been made to replace the old banknotes with new notes. Afghanistan’s central bank said in a statement that the […]

The Contact Commission with the Afghan Personalities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), said that at least 370 Afghan personalities have returned to Afghanistan in the past year. The commission’s spokesman Ahmadullah Wasiq told Bakhtar news agency that since the establishment of the commission, 370 people including ministers, deputies, and members of parliament, national security employees, journalists and prominent […]