On August 31, 2022, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, i.e., the Afghan Taliban, celebrated the first anniversary of the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan with the main ceremony being held at Bagram Airbase. Some of the messages issued at the ceremonies reiterated the message of jihad and success against “American aggression” against Afghanistan. A military parade showcasing […]

The National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, an anti-Taliban resistance group led by Ahmad Massoud, is fighting against the Afghan Taliban in six provinces of Afghanistan, according to an Afghan website. The report published by Afghan newspaper Hasht-e-Subh quoted Ali Maisam Nazary, head of NRF’s foreign relations, as saying that NRF’s operations against the Taliban have expanded during the past […]

A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. To prevent a slide back into violence, Islamabad should ensure those inciting or perpetrating violent acts are prosecuted while denying hardliners the civic space to propagate their hatred. What’s new? The rise of a local Islamic State franchise and the growing influence of a hard-line […]

There are two unique characters of ancient times in Mahabharata and Ramayana. Karna in Mahabharata and Vibhishana in Ramayana.Karna, ended up fighting alongside the bad guys Kauravas in the Mahabharata. Vibhishana betrayed his country to join Lord Ram in the Dharamyudh (righteous battle) in the Ramayana against his own king brother Ravana. Vibhisana was a traitor to his people and […]

Japan’s vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) is nearing an inflection point. The government is faced with a choice on whether to shift its traditional strategic posture to take a firmer stance against China. Japan must decide how far it will go to defend the existing international order that the United States and its partners have largely constructed […]

Japan plans to beef up defenses on its remote islands in the East China Sea in preparation for a Taiwan Strait crisis, a move reflecting official strategic thinking but one that is likely to annoy China. The Japanese defense ministry wants to expand fuel and ammunition storage facilities on the Nansei (Ryukyu) island chain, whose westernmost tip lies only 110 […]

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the U.S. Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Senior Advisor on Caucasian Negotiations Philip Reeker on Saturday, September 10 to discuss a number of issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Pashinyan emphasized the important role of the U.S. in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a co-chair state of the OSCE […]

As the new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss intends to designate China as a ‘threat’ rather than simply a ‘systemic competitor’. Her designation is consistent with the latest United Kingdom defence review, which calls China ‘the biggest state-based threat’ to the country’s economic security. There have been actions to match these words. The UK government has been mandated to remove […]

Politically, everything seems to be going smoothly for Xi Jinping in his bid for an unprecedented third term at the 20th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress which will begin on October 16. However, even as politics remains at the forefront in China, the country is besieged by a sea of troubles. China is currently confronting multiple challenges. Internally, it is […]

Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate is demonstrating the limitations of the Taliban’s counter-terrorism capacity as it targets the group’s senior leaders. Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-K, is ramping up its attacks on the Taliban in Afghanistan, undermining the group’s pledge to end suicide bombings in the country. The Afghan branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a string […]