Category: South East Asia

Kirby Says U.S. Doesn’t ‘Support Taiwan Independence’ as China Threatens Pelosi ahead of Expected Taiwan Trip

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday that the U.S. does not “support Taiwan independence,” amid heightened threats from China about Nancy Pelosi’s reported trip to the island. “Nothing has changed about our ‘One China Policy,’” Kirby said. “We have repeatedly said that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We have said […]

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Kabul city rattled by early morning rocket attack

The interior ministry has confirmed that a rocket hit a residential house in Sherpur, close to Kabul city center, at about 6am Sunday. The Interior Ministry’s spokesman Abdul Nafi Takour confirmed the incident but said no casualties had been reported. “It was a rocket attack this morning on a residential house in Sherpur area of Kabul city; fortunately, it did […]

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Border force member killed in cross border shooting in Nimroz

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has confirmed that one of its soldiers was killed and another one wounded on Sunday when Iranian border forces opened fire along the border fence in Nimroz province. The Nimroz department of Information and Culture said in a statement the incident occurred when the Iranian border forces fired at an IEA border patrol before […]

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Pakistani tribal elders arrive in Kabul for talks with TTP

A 17-member delegation of tribal elders arrived in Kabul on Saturday to resume peace talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This comes after a team of senior religious scholars returned to Pakistan this week after negotiations in Afghanistan with the TTP leadership, Dawn News reported. The eight-member ulema delegation was led by Mufti Taqi Usmani. Dawn News reported a source […]

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No talks with Pakistan on Wakhan transit road: IEA

Former president Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff Abdul Karim Khurram’s tweet on Pakistan’s intention regarding the imposition of a new Wakhan Corridor policy has triggered a heated debate. On July 22, Khurram wrote on his Twitter handle that Pakistan had renewed its demand for the construction of a transit road via Wakhan for trade with Tajikistan. Some sources urged the […]

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Russia again calls for release of Afghan assets

Russian has underlined the need for the release of Afghanistan’s foreign assets frozen by the Biden administration. “On our part, we again drew attention to the need to unlock the national assets [of Afghanistan],” a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said. Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Ivan Nechaev said this while commenting on the results of the […]

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What to Expect From a Bolder Xi Jinping

Get Ready for a More Ambitious Chinese Foreign Policy As China prepares for this fall’s 20th Party Congress, the odds grow stronger by the day that Chinese President Xi Jinping will emerge from the meeting having secured a third term in office. This will mark a break with Chinese precedent since Deng Xiaoping wrote a two-term limit into the country’s […]

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Rupee Convertibility: De-Dollarization Paves Way For Stronger Rupee

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to permit the rupee in global trade is a precursor to making it an international currency. The RBI said the move was to “support the increasing interest of global trading companies”. Although the convertibility is limited to current account, which means partial convertibility, the attempt by the RBI demonstrates India’s readiness to move […]

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Bitcoin: Balancing Risks And Benefits

What makes Bitcoin a gold-like commodity is its perfect decentralisation and high cost of production, both traits lacking by every other cryptocurrency. Like gold can be found in physical nature, Bitcoin can be found in digital nature, by anyone with electricity, internet, and some hardware.

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The Taliban’s Neighbors Fear Afghanistan’s ‘Boiling Pot’ of Terrorism

A three-day conference in Uzbekistan has united the region, worried about the guerrillas in their midst. The Taliban’s failure to make the leap from insurgency to governance is coming under scrutiny this week as they meet with representatives of countries that are growing increasingly concerned that after almost year in power, the extremists have again transformed Afghanistan into a global […]

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