Iranian government officials have announced that Tehran has issued a three-month permit for the transfer of diesel to Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Special Representative of the President of Iran for Afghanistan, tweeted on Saturday. He said the move was made following a request from Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials in order for them to meet the needs of Afghans […]

Representatives of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) arrived in Norway on Saturday (January 22) for three days of talks due to start on Sunday (January 23) on how to alleviate a humanitarian crisis. Millions of Afghans have been plunged deeper into poverty since last year’s IEA takeover, which resulted in disruption to aid programmes and deteriorating food security. The IEA […]

Pakistani police have asked for assistance from authorities in Tehran in apprehending the suspected killers of a Saudi diplomat who are believed to be hiding in Iran, a counterterrorism official has said. Hassan Al-Qahtani, an employee of the Saudi consulate in Pakistan’s southern metropolis of Karachi, was killed in 2011 when gunmen opened fire on his car in the city’s […]

In his letter to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang written in May last year to commemorate 70 years of Sino-Pak friendship, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan mentioned how “Our time-tested relationship is built around lasting values of mutual respect, mutual trust, and mutual understanding.” But just two months later, when a bus carrying Chinese workers plunged into a ravine near […]

The South China Sea has been relatively quiet politically over the past few months. But that does not mean nothing is happening behind the scenes. Indeed, the principle protagonists — China and the U.S. — and Southeast Asian countries caught in between them — are trying to figure out what to do next — how, when and where. Once their […]

China’s use of economic coercion, grey zone operations in the East and South China Seas, and threats to reunify Taiwan by force are part of a growing plethora of concerns that are linked to Japan, Australia and other like-minded countries adopting defence postures to what China itself has admitted is an explicit effort by China “to shape an ideological environment […]

A joint naval exercise including the military forces of Iran, Russia and China will kick off in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean on Friday, January 21, an Iranian commander said. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the spokesperson for the upcoming exercise said the drill, dubbed ‘naval security belt combined war game 2022’, will begin tomorrow with the participation […]

China and the United States have engaged in a renewed spat over the activity of a U.S. naval ship in the South China Sea, with Washington asserting its right to navigate territorial waters and Beijing warning of “serious consequences.” The USS Benfold guided-missile destroyer conducted a “freedom of navigation operation” (FONOP) in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the […]

The Russian-led military operation in Kazakhstan has presented an important test for Moscow’s ties with Beijing. In early January, Kazakhstan was shaken by nationwide protests that sparked uncertainty in the central Asian nation that had hitherto remained largely stable. Though much remains to be seen as to how the events exactly transpired, Russia’s reaction to the unrest was quite direct […]

Taiwan, a perennially sensitive issue between Japan and China, gained increased salience in the run-up to Japanese elections in fall 2021. In separate incidents in late August and early September, a Chinese flotilla sailed through the waters between Taiwan and Japan’s island of Yonaguni and on through the Miyako Strait for what the Chinese media described as a warning to […]