Category: South East Asia

US asset freezes worsen Afghan women’s suffering: UN experts

The United States, as well as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), is contributing to the suffering of women in Afghanistan through asset freezes, U.N. independent experts said on Monday. The United Nations and foreign governments, including Washington, have condemned moves by the IEA to backtrack on women’s rights commitments such as on girls’ education in the months following their […]

Read more ›

Afghans using crypto to ‘safeguard’ their savings

Afghans are reportedly acquiring digital assets that they use to preserve their savings and to lessen the chance of having their money seized by the new authorities, Bloomberg reported this week. According to Bloomberg, the demand for digital currencies in Afghanistan has surged as some Afghans look to buy stablecoins like tether because they are pegged to the U.S dollar. […]

Read more ›

Militants in Afghanistan strike Pakistan army post, kill 3

Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said Saturday, in the latest violence to rattle the volatile region. A firefight ensued with the militants firing toward the army post in Pakistan’s rugged North Waziristan region, and several were killed, the statement said. There was no immediate way […]

Read more ›

Taliban arrest IS ‘mastermind’ of Afghan mosque attack: police

Taliban forces have arrested a suspected Islamic State militant who planned a bomb attack that killed at least 12 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan, police said on Friday. IS claimed the bomb blast that tore through the Seh Dokan mosque during midday prayers in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday. The attack also wounded 58 people. Balkh […]

Read more ›

Taliban vows crackdown on ISIS as violence surges in Afghanistan

KABUL — A four-day blitz of terrorist bombings across Afghanistan has left the country reeling after months of relative calm, raising fears that the Taliban — which spent years fighting the Afghan state and its U.S. backers — will be unable to maintain the peace. Sunni extremists from the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, known as Islamic State-Khorasan or […]

Read more ›

India: Challenges To Peace In Punjab – Analysis

On April 15, 2022, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), issued a letter – ‘Haryana Banega Khalistan’ (Haryana will become Khalistan) – and threatened to raise ‘Khalistani’ flags at the office of the District Collector in the Ambala District of Haryana on April 29, 2022. SFJ posters on roads near Ambala urged the people to join the group on April 29. SFJ […]

Read more ›

Pakistan Must Get Ready To Face The IMF – OpEd

Most of the politicians in Pakistan, being part of the ruling junta or sitting in the opposition, talk ‘bad’ about International Monetary Fund (IMF), mainly to attain political mileage. While every political party in opposition blames IMF of economic malice of Pakistan, but no sooner did it comes in power approaches the lender of last resort and often agrees on […]

Read more ›

Pakistan’s Pivot To Russia And Ouster Of Imran Khan

Days before Imran Khan’s ouster on April 10 as prime minister in a no-trust motion in the parliament orchestrated by foreign powers, two impersonators were arrested in Washington for posing as US federal security officials and cultivating access to the Secret Service, which protects President Joe Biden, one of whom claimed ties to Pakistani intelligence. Justice department assistant attorney Joshua […]

Read more ›

‘Pakistan air strikes’ kill at least 47 in Afghanistan, officials say

The death toll from air strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Khost and Kunar carried out by the Pakistan military has risen to at least 47, officials said on Sunday. Afghan authorities claim the pre-dawn air assault was carried out by Pakistani military helicopters. Since the Taliban seized power last year, border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen, with […]

Read more ›

OIC meets virtually with Thomas West to discuss Afghanistan

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Tarig Ali Bakhiet, held a virtual meeting on Tuesday morning with Washington’s special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West to discuss a wide range of issues including counterterrorism and the issue of Afghan girls not going to school. “An extensive range of critical issues were discussed, mainly humanitarian and […]

Read more ›