India’s Prime Minister Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Welcoming Dinner during G20 Leaders’ Summit, 15th November 2022, in Badung, Bali. (Photo | PTI) It was the first time that the two leaders publicly exchanged words since a military standoff in Galwan Valley in April 2020. “Their exchange may not indicate a return to normalcy between the two […]

A recent wave of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Islamabad, and other areas of Pakistan has shaken public confidence in the Pakistani leadership. Following a suicide attack by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Islamabad on December 23, 2022, several countries, including the U.S., Australia, and Saudi Arabia have issued red alerts in view of the attacks, warning their citizens not to […]

In a recent article, Pakistani writer Wajeeh Ahmed Siddiqui examined the current intricacies of relations between America, the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, India, China, and Pakistan. The article, titled “The Taliban In Modi’s Lap,” follows a series of attacks in Afghanistan that appear to have been against Chinese and Pakistani interests, especially the attacks on the Pakistani Embassy and a hotel in […]

To be on the same page with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is certainly not a compliment. Hence, when I say that by expressing the “hope that the establishment’s [Pakistan army’s] practice to remain apolitical will continue” he has dittoed my apprehensions [expressed in a recent article], I can’t be accused of trying to blow my own trumpet.  Though […]

Kazakhstan has been reforming, modernizing and expanding its military forces since the January 2022 events forced Astana to call in forces from the Organization of the Collective Security Treaty to put them down. It is thus directed primarily against internal threats rather than at neighboring countries, Maksim Kramarenko says. But the Moscow security analyst says that there is a foreign […]

The recent drills conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near the coast of Taiwan are the latest demonstration of Chinese military power. Beijing dubbed it “strike drills” which were conducted close to the seas and airspace of Taiwan. These drills foreshadow an increasing possibility of invasion of the island, which Beijing treats as a renegade entity. Earlier, in August 2022, the […]

In 2022, Japan managed to cope with one major shock from the past, but was hit by two new ones. In spite of positive developments in its COVID-19 recovery, the Japanese economy is not in good shape. This is because of the new shocks originating from abroad — the Russian invasion of Ukraine and inflation. The shock Japan has largely […]

On 9 December 2022, tensions flared along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as Indian troops thwarted an attempt by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to unilaterally alter the status quo in the Tawang sector of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese had arrived with 300 primed military personnel to the LAC but had not anticipated the Indian troops to […]

Iranian and Pakistani foreign ministers reviewed the current situation in Afghanistan in a phone conversation and once again emphasized the need for an inclusive government to be formed in Afghanistan. In a statement issued on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Amir-Abdollahian expressed his regret about […]

Abdul Latif Mansoor, minister of energy and water of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), left Kabul for Turkey on Friday. During his visit, Mansoor will discuss with Tajikistan’s officials about the extension of the contract for electricity imports from the country for 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Water said in a statement. The minister will also participate in […]