Concerns about the Uyghur file, investment risks, and other issues are still constraining the relationship to a certain extent, but fortifying those restraints will require Washington to exert further leverage on several fronts. The gradual upsurge in both high-level Turkish visits to China and Chinese investments in Turkey points to a potential deepening of their bilateral relations. What is driving […]

The Trump administration is reportedly considering whether to seize additional tankers carrying sanctioned Iranian oil. This comes on the heels of the Indian Coast Guard’s first-ever seizure of “shadow fleet” vessels carrying Iranian oil on February 6. Indian authorities identified the three tankers — the Al Jafzia, Asphalt Star, and Stellar Ruby — as part of a smuggling ring that […]

Anew United Nations sanctions monitoring report says the Taliban are supporting the activities of militant groups, including al-Qaida, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, inside Afghanistan. The six-month report by the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to the Security Council says al-Qaida continues to enjoy Taliban backing and acts as a provider of training and advice […]

Mohammad Fazel Mazloom, a former Taliban deputy defence minister who is under U.N. sanctions, has been appointed minister of transport and civil aviation in a cabinet reshuffle ordered by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. Under the same order, the Taliban transport minister, Hamidullah Akhundzada, has been appointed as the Taliban’s first deputy minister of defense, a similar pattern of […]

Recently, Pakistan was rocked by the Baloch Liberation Army’s “Herof Phase 2” offensive, a coordinated assault across nine districts that combined urban raids, rural guerrilla tactics, suicide missions, and psychological warfare. This was not simply an internal security lapse, it was a geopolitical tremor reverberating across South Asia. Pakistan’s reflex of blame and the India factor True to form, Pakistan’s […]

The Taliban’s defense minister on Sunday urged members to “forget the past” and avoid settling old scores, warning that revenge and factional rivalries could once again plunge the country into internal conflict. Speaking at a gathering in Kabul marking the 37th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid called on Taliban members to set aside political […]

The Taliban have begun enforcing their newly approved penal code, sentencing a man in western Afghanistan to one year in prison and 39 lashes for allegedly insulting their supreme leader, according to three local and informed sources. The sentence, issued by a Taliban primary court in Badghis Province, appears to be the first known application of the new code since […]

Toplines The PLA’s newest amphibious assault vessel, the Type 076 landing helicopter dock (LHD) Sichuan, could be equipped with as many as six GJ-21 naval stealth drones. The Type 076 will likely use the GJ-21 to support long-distance PLA Navy (PLAN) deployments. Photos circulating on Chinese social media showed Sichuan at an unknown location with a cloth-draped aircraft on its […]

The Taliban-run higher education ministry has begun issuing bachelor’s degrees to 325 madrassa graduates, including alumni of religious schools in Pakistan, according to a ministry statement and an official list. The ministry said the process started on Thursday, Feb. 12. Among those set to receive degrees are 10 graduates of what it described as “jihadi” madrassas. According to the list […]

Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, Minister of Interior Affairs, says the officials of the Islamic Emirate have repeatedly emphasized that the security of Afghanistan is the security of the region and the world. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the sixth professional police course, Haqqani stated that insecurity in the region is insecurity for the entire world. Addressing the police officers, Haqqani […]