Perceptionaly, China is in an impassive ‘spectator mode’ as Pakistan flounders on the edge of an abyss in its ongoing existential crisis mainly engineered by former PM Imran Khan politically displaced in a Constitutional coup. When Pakistan is in a state of acute economic meltdown and reeling under widespread devastation of floods, does it behove former PM Imran Khan to […]

Cambodia’s foreign policy is largely shaped by the worldview of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has more than four decades of practical experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs. Understanding Cambodian foreign policy, including its decision to co-sponsor the UN resolution to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, means grasping the pragmatism that informs Hun Sen’s decision-making. Hun Sen does not buy […]

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India from 5 to 8 September 2022. During the visit, Dhaka and New Delhi signed seven memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreed on certain issues of bilateral importance. One of the MoUs is on the water withdrawal by India and Bangladesh from the common border river, Kushiyara, a distributary of the Barak River. The […]

Five people were killed in a blast in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, including an influential anti-Taliban tribal leader, police said, in the fist major bombing in over a decade in an area that was once a battleground between security forces and militants. The attack comes as fears rise about the return of Pakistani Taliban, also known as the TTP, to […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday that casualties were reported in clashes across the Durand Line on Tuesday after Pakistan opened fire. IEA spokesman Bilal Karimi said Pakistani forces had tried to build a post close to the Durand Line and when approached by IEA officials, Pakistan opened fire. “After that, mutual firing also took place, which may […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday there was no truth in Pakistan’s claims earlier in the day that Masood Azhar the leader of Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammed group had taken refuge in Afghanistan. “We would like to point out that the Islamic Emirate does not allow any armed opposition of any country to operate in our own territory,” said Abdul […]

Washington is to set up a new fund that could eventually serve as a mechanism to free up Afghanistan’s frozen assets in order to promote economic stability in the country, senior US officials told CNN. According to the officials, the Biden administration has worked with Switzerland and Afghan economists to set up this fund. The US is moving $3.5 billion […]

A Pakistani court on Monday extended former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s pre-arrest bail for eight more days on terrorism charges relating to a speech in which he allegedly threatened police and judicial officers, his lawyer said. Khan, who appeared in court in person, was booked in the case by police in August. This is the fourth time he has secured […]

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan says that there has been an “emerging pattern of harassment of Afghan UN female staff” by Taliban officials, which the UN refers to as the de facto authorities. “The UN in Afghanistan expresses its mounting concern about de facto authorities’ actions against Afghan female employees of the United Nations. The UN urges the de […]

The Forces That Could Threaten the Taliban’s Control One year ago, the democratic government of Afghanistan collapsed. The humiliating evacuation of U.S. military forces and civilians as well as roughly 100,000 Afghans remains a sore spot for Washington and its allies. The Taliban regime has ruled the country ever since. Levels of violence throughout the country have been dramatically reduced—but […]