Dushanbe has never exercised complete control over Tajikistan’s restive Gorno-Badakhshan, a remote region dominated by the Pamir Mountains that occupies a third of the country (even though it has only 3 percent of its population) and adjoins Afghanistan. But in recent weeks, the situation has... MORE

The Female Suicide Bombing at Karachi’s Chinese Confucius Institute and the Paradigm Shift in Baluch Rebels’ Strategy in Pakistan Kiyya Baloch and Akbar Notezai   Introduction Since 2018, the Baluch insurgency in Pakistan has become more lethal, especially for Chinese nationals, and the pattern behind... MORE

Voice of Khorasan Magazine and the Internationalization of Islamic State’s Anti-Taliban Propaganda Lucas Webber In late January 2022, the Afghanistan-based Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) premiered its English-language magazine, “Voice of Khurasan (VoK)” (Militant Wire, February 8). The online print series is published through... MORE

Will Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Call for Indian Muslims to Join al-Qaeda Fall on Deaf Ears? Sudha Ramachandran In a video released on April 5, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri praised an Indian Muslim female student for defying a local ban on students wearing hijab to school. Calling... MORE

No End in Sight: Jihadist and Baluch Ethno-Nationalist Suicide Terrorism in Pakistan Since the U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan Abdul Basit Pakistan is no stranger to suicide terrorism. However, suicide attacks witnessed in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 point to its revival and expansion... MORE

Allah Nazar is the leader of the Baluchistan Liberation Front (BLF), a banned militant group engaged in a war against Pakistan and seeking the independence of Baluchistan province. As a separatist Baluch leader, Allah Nazar’s BLF has thus far carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks on... MORE

Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, a founding member of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), surrendered to the Afghan Taliban on March 4 and pledged allegiance to the group’s emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada (Twitter/Ab. Sayed, March 4). Dost appeared on March 4 in the capital city of... MORE

On April 11, five policemen were killed when their patrol vehicle was ambushed by militants in Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (The News , April 12). On the same day, in a separate incident, two soldiers were killed when terrorists attacked... MORE

The Russo-Ukraine war, the extensive Western sanctions against Russia, and the growing possibility that European border states will block east-west transit corridors traversing Russian territory into Europe are having far-reaching implications for the landlocked countries of Central Asia, which have historically relied on road and... MORE

Introduction During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Kathmandu on March 25-27, China and Nepal signed nine agreements covering an array of fields including a technical assistance for a cross-border railway feasibility study, economic, and technical cooperation, and COVID-19 vaccine assistance to Nepal (Kathmandu... MORE