Latest Articles about South Asia

Taliban Graduation Ceremony Demonstrates Change of Tactics

Earlier this month, a Pakistani journalist filmed a Taliban "graduation ceremony" for would-be Western suicide bombers. The video, which can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwiGXIhnKo, shows a "graduating class of suicide bombers" ready to travel to the United States and Western Europe to carry out suicide... MORE

Despite Positive Poll Results, Afghanistan Heads Toward Violence

Afghanistan is eternally a land of contradictions. From fiery deserts in the south, to vast, frigid and towering mountain ranges in the north, the country's topography and climate act as competing nightmares for civil and military planners and logisticians. The country has a population that... MORE

Al-Qaeda’s American Recruit Releases Something Entirely New

As the 19th anniversary of al-Qaeda's founding nears later in 2007, Western analysts have accumulated an enormous body of primary-source material upon which to base judgments, assessments and predictions. While it is a truism to say that al-Qaeda is a "learning organization"—in the sense that... MORE

Al-Qaeda’s Media Doctrine: Evolution from Cheerleader to Opinion-Shaper

Al-Qaeda has always regarded media work as a key weapon in its arsenal, although the group has no claim to originating the use of the media as a weapon for the mujahideen. The Afghan Islamist insurgent organizations—especially Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami and Ahmad Shah Masoud Jamiat-e-Islami—ran... MORE

Shamshatoo Refugee Camp: A Base of Support for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Two years after the Pakistani government banned it from publication, Shahaadat Daily newspaper, funded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan), is again available on the streets of Peshawar (Ariana Television, May 6). The daily has published articles that denounce... MORE

South Waziristan’s Maulvi Nazir: The New Face of the Taliban

Pakistan is experimenting with the Taliban yet again. The primary focus of the effort is to de-link the Taliban from al-Qaeda and bring them back into the Pakistani sphere of influence. Uzbek militants have been the first “casualty” of this re-alignment. Potentially, remaining Arab militants... MORE

Afghanistan’s Drug Trade and How it Funds Taliban Operations

The opium economy in Afghanistan is a key component of the counter-insurgency campaign, yet remains one of the most difficult issues to tackle. It is a critical problem facing international efforts to create a functional government in Kabul that can prosecute counter-terrorism on its own... MORE