Latest Articles about South Asia
Kazakhstan Raising Its Afghanistan Profile
On January 28 the United States announced plans to purchase a "significant part" of the goods needed to supply its forces in Afghanistan from Kazakhstan. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Richard Hoagland clarified these intentions in the context of the U.S.-Kazakh agreement on the transit of... MORE
Afghanistan Deployment puts Germany in al-Qaeda’s Crosshairs
Speaking in accented but fluent German, Abu Talha al-Alamani made al-Qaeda’s most direct threat to the German nation yet in a recent video, saying that Germans were “naive and gullible” if they thought they could “emerge unscathed” from being the third-largest troop provider in the... MORE
Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba Chooses Between Kashmir and the Global Jihad
In a surprising shift of tactics, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organization has toned down its violent Kashmir-centric agenda, claiming it will pursue a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem. The radical group, blamed for many terror attacks in India, including November’s assault on Mumbai,... MORE
Upcoming Changes to the Drug-Insurgency Nexus in Afghanistan
While there are many Taliban-controlled villages in Afghanistan that do not cultivate opium, there are few villages cultivating opium that are not under Taliban control. The concentration of opium production in a handful of southern provinces has placed Afghanistan’s opium economy almost completely under insurgent... MORE
Kashmir’s al-Badr Mujahideen Hard Hit by Indian Offensive
India’s military has intensified operations against the Pakistan-sponsored Kashmiri Mujahideen groups still active in Indian-administered Kashmir. In recent days, a top-ranking commander of the militant al-Badr movement, Abu Tamim, was killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir... MORE
Taliban Target Karachi and Peshawar Links in NATO’s Afghanistan Supply-Chain
The announcement yesterday by General David Petraeus that the United States had reached agreements with Russia and several Central Asian nations for a new (and costly) U.S.-NATO supply route into Afghanistan came as the struggle for control of the supply routes through Pakistan continues. While... MORE
India’s Assam State Reels under New Year’s Terrorist Offensive
India’s northeastern state of Assam has endured a series of terrorist incidents, including bomb blasts, attacks on trains, and a fierce gun fight between security forces and terrorists, all within the first ten days of the New Year. On January 1, terrorists suspected of belonging... MORE
NATO’s Khyber Lifeline
The recent spate of attacks on NATO’s supply convoys in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar and the adjacent Khyber Tribal Agency has not only tested Pakistan’s much-touted performance in the global war on terror, but has also compelled U.S-led forces in Afghanistan to dispense with... MORE
India’s Sikh Militants Forming Ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani Intelligence
The recent Mumbai attacks have once again embittered relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals of South Asia - Pakistan and India. India has given Pakistan a list of "handlers" who are believed to be based in Pakistan and were in touch with the terrorists during... MORE
Mumbai Terror Investigation Leads to Pakistan’s “Epicenter of Terrorism”
Two weeks after the deadly Mumbai terrorist incidents which claimed 164 lives, including security forces personnel and foreign nationals, Indian investigating agencies have been struggling to unearth a terror trail that appears to point directly towards neighboring Pakistan. In one of the most prolonged and... MORE