Entering its second year, the Biden administration has failed to produce a coherent economic policy for the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, two major regional trade agreements are moving forward. US businesses and workers will increasingly suffer from legal economic discrimination from these new regional trade rules of the road — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional […]

Speaking during a joint news conference with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev following the talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, on February 10, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan “uphold the principles of the supremacy of international law, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states”. It sounds good. […]

“Most countries have an army, but Pakistan’s army has a country.” Pakistan has had a near continuous military dominance of both serving and retired General officers being co-opted into its bureaucracy by lateral induction. General Musharraf brought in officers at every level. Imran Khan Government appears to have beaten all earlier records in filling civilian posts with military officers into […]

Islamic fundamentalism and violence is on the rise in Bangladesh. Anti-France protests, violent protests during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit and communal violence in Comilla all demonstrate the influence Islamist radicals have, particularly Hefazat-e-Islam. The rise of hardline Islamic forces poses a challenge to the Bangladeshi government on whether it will protect its secular principles or continue its patronage […]

The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program has offered a new $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the leader of the Islamic State Khorasan Province. Sanaullah Ghafar, the emir of the Islamic State Khorasan Province who is also known as Shahab al-Muhajir, is described by Rewards for Justice as “an experienced military leader […]

Despite lingering concerns among some officials in Washington that Afghanistan is on its way to once again becoming a terrorist haven, recent U.S. defense and intelligence assessments seem to indicate that at least for now, groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida are not ready to use the country as a launch pad for attacks against the West.

Altaf Hussain, a once feared politician who controlled Karachi for decades from his home in north London, was acquitted by a jury of encouraging acts of terrorism after making fiery speeches to followers in Pakistan’s turbulent financial capital. The verdict was reached by a majority decision in London on Tuesday. Prosecution lawyers played jurors guttural over-the-phone broadcasts made by 68-year-old […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi discussed ways for closer cooperation between the two neighbors in various fields, particularly trade. The Iranian interior minister met with the Pakistani prime minister in Islamabad on Monday. In the meeting, also attended by Pakistan’s interior minister and the Iranian ambassador to Islamabad, the parties stressed the need to […]

No Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-linked fatality was recorded through 2021. A single LTTE-linked fatality was recorded on July 8, 2020, when a former LTTE ‘intelligence agent,’ Thangarasa Thevanesan (43), sustained burn injuries when a crude bomb exploded accidentally in his house located at the Puliyadi Junction in Kilinochchi District of Northern Province on July 3, and later succumbed […]

With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rapid victory of the Taliban, some observers have pronounced the commencement of a new Chinese-led regional order. China, they say, will sweep in and develop road and rail infrastructure to extract Afghanistan’s vast mineral and rare earth wealth and thereby emerge as the ultimate winner of America’s longest war. Such projections belie […]