Sudan’s growing oil industry has already transformed the capital of Khartoum and has the potential to raise living standards throughout the country. The industry, dominated by Asian multinationals, nevertheless faces serious security threats from rebel movements unhappy with the conduct of foreign companies and the... MORE

Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) was ushered onto the global stage by two tumultuous events: firstly, the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and secondly, the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001. The massive influx of over... MORE

The seizure in eastern Turkey on July 8 of three German mountaineers by a unit of the People’s Defense Force (HPG), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was the first time in more than a decade that the organization had kidnapped Western... MORE

The phenomenal rise of various Pakistani Taliban militant groups since 2004 and subsequent militant activities in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have surprised many. In a short span of nearly three years, the Pakistani Taliban threat has developed into a considerable political and security challenge to... MORE

Recent counter-insurgency operations of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in northern Iraq have once again brought to the forefront its highly trained Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi (OKK - Special Forces Command). The OKK deployment comes as Turkey reorganizes its large conscript army to create a smaller,... MORE

Afghanistan has rarely been absent recently from the international press, but developments in the country have once more brought it to the world’s attention. According to tallies based on military statements, June was the second month in a row in which casualties of foreign troops... MORE