The suburban Moscow concert hall assault last Friday that killed more than 130 people was the deadliest attack inside Russia in 20 years. It raised major questions about the capabilities and ambitions of the terror group that U.S. officials believe was responsible: ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, an affiliate of the self-declared Islamic State that emerged in Afghanistan. In multiple documentaries and […]

U.S. military and defense officials are increasingly concerned that as China and Russia forge ever stronger ties, they might attempt to challenge Western unity and eventually alter the balance of power on the world stage. The commander of U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee that the evolving relationship between Beijing and Moscow is […]

The Indian Navy and its marine commandos Marcos have come in for global praise for its multi-focal special operational capability on high season during their recent operations to rescue Indian; Pakistani and Bangladeshi sailors taken hostage by Somalian pirates. Indian army’s parachute commandos have already demonstrated deep penetration strike capabilities in enemy territory but the force that has come in […]

After Shehbaz Sharif was elected earlier this month to another term as the Pakistani Prime Minister, he knew his new government didn’t have any time to hesitate since the country faced maybe its worst economic–political–security crisis. Putting aside the growing inflation and the urgent need for a new, costly agreement with the IMF, Sharif needed to find a proper solution […]

For Gulf states, balancing the use of the dollar and the renminbi will become a way of maintaining strategic neutrality amid global geopolitical fragmentation. As China’s geo-economic influence expands across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), countries in the region are becoming acutely aware of the risks emanating from their dependence on the U.S. dollar. From a ground-breaking Chinese […]

On Monday, Pakistan launched airstrikes against several suspected hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces. The Afghan Taliban responded by firing on Pakistani positions along the border, according to the Afghan defense ministry. Pakistan’s defense and foreign ministries called the strikes on Afghanistan “retaliatory,” likely referring to the suicide bombing against a Pakistani military post […]

Everyone loves a short, sharp war. They end on time, are won decisively, and provide tight narrative completion for the stories we want to tell. Among military commanders, planners, and theorists, this often manifests itself in the quest for the decisive battle—one that will inflict such a stunning defeat on the enemy that its will to fight is broken, forcing […]

The past decade saw an unprecedented influx of Chinese capital into infrastructure investments, but the police, military, and intelligence services haven’t scaled their anti-terrorist capabilities accordingly. This isn’t due to those institutions’ lack of professionalism, but is purely the result of misguided priorities. The “Baloch Liberation Army” (BLA) claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack against the Gwadar Port Authority complex […]

Balochistan’s Information Minister is psychologically pressuring the Taliban with his dramatic tweet about Pakistan invading and annexing the Wakhan Corridor in the event that it experiences another terrorist attack from Afghan-linked groups. Balochistan’s Information Minister Jan Achakzai tweeted on Wednesday per Google Translate that “If another terrorist attack takes place in Pakistan, the Taliban have already been warned. There will […]

China confirmed a meeting between a Foreign Ministry official and Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha as Beijing seeks a wider role in the region. China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed a meeting between Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian and the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in Qatar over the weekend, in the first publicly acknowledged encounter between officials from […]