Both the United States and China will be watching the outcome of Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election. For China, another victory for President Tsai Ing-wen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) could portend prolonged hostilities between Taipei and Beijing. But the first-order effects will be felt in Taiwan, where the race for president will implicate national identity, energy policy and the economy. Taiwan’s […]

Iran said it is shutting its vast borders with neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan to increase security after the twin bombing that killed at least 89 people in the southeastern city of Kerman on January 3. The Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying his government was prioritizing border crossings along borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, […]

UNRWA has encouraged generations of Palestinians to wallow in the hell of refugees, stuck with the “right of return” promised to them by radical factions committed to eternal war with Israel. Many words are being written these days about the “day after” in Gaza, but most of the writers ignore one organization, which bears considerable responsibility for the impossible situation […]

Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that Daesh’s Khorasan branch carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people, Reuters reported on Friday citing US intelligence sources. The sources said the intelligence comprised communications intercepts, without providing further details. Wednesday’s bombings were the deadliest of their kind in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Daesh on […]

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, head of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party, has said that he will meet Mawlavi Hebatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Islamic Emirate, during his visit to Afghanistan. In an interview with Radio Mashaal, Fazal-ur-Rehman said that he will try to improve relations between the two countries during this trip to Afghanistan. He said that he will discuss the […]

Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court has removed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) from the list of banned groups, IEA’s foreign ministry announced on Friday citing Kazakh envoy. Kazakh Ambassador to Afghanistan Alim Khan Yasin Galdiev met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and the sides discussed bilateral issues, the foreign ministry said in a statement. During the meeting, Muttaqi appreciated […]

While almost all of Plato’s erudite observations have withstood the test of time, “iron clad brothers”– opulent China and impoverished Islamabad, appear to disprove the ancient Greek philosopher’s view that “true friendship can exist only between equals.” In March this year, when debt-ridden Pakistan was staring at a possible default in the face, Saudi Arabia, with whom Islamabad boasts of […]

The Tatmadaw usurped power in Myanmar through a coup in February 2021. In the two and a half years since, India has been tolerant of the junta and hasn’t yet interacted with the pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG). Further, in taking a “business as usual” approach in the interest of certain geostrategic calculations, India has effectively also offered support to […]

The outbreak of Israel-Hamas hostilities, following the latter’s deadly raid on 7 October 2023, has sparked never-before-seen violence in the Gaza Strip. The involvement of external powers, coupled with the regional powers’ pursuit of geopolitical ambitions through proxies, threatens the fragile stability of West Asia. However, beyond the geopolitical implications lurks the threat of terrorist violence and radicalisation as a […]

“Those at particular risk are civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, former government officials and security force members, and of course women and girls as a whole, who, as a result of the abhorrent policies currently in place in Afghanistan, are banned from secondary and tertiary education, working in many sectors and other aspects of daily and public life.” […]