Latest Articles about South Asia
The Black-Turbaned Brigade: The Rise of TNSM in Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat- e-Mohammadi (TNSM, Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws) is emerging as one of the most dangerous religious militant groups in Pakistan. Its founder and leader, Sufi Mohammad, is behind bars and the organization was banned in early 2002. Still, its support base in... MORE
The Geostrategic Implications of the Baloch Insurgency
Pakistan continues to grapple with insurgent violence in its southwestern province of Balochistan, which is bounded by the country's tribal belt in the northwest, Afghanistan in the north and Iran in the west. In the northwest, Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has also been... MORE
Mujahideen Consider American Elections a Sign of U.S. Defeat in Iraq
The results of the U.S. interim elections last Tuesday resonated with the mujahideen and their supporters online. Discussion centered around a theme of victory for the Iraqi mujahideen and an inevitable U.S. military defeat in Iraq, demonstrated by the Republicans' resounding loss. The election results... MORE
A Rewarding Month for Al-Qaeda and its Allies
It has become common in the United States and the West to acknowledge the difficulty of integrating and making sense of the disparate, geographically diverse events that occur in the war on terrorism and to assess which side is winning. The first half of November,... MORE
After Bajaur Strike, Peace Deal with Agency Militants Still Ahead
On October 30, Pakistan bombed a religious school in Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on the very day it was set to sign a peace deal with those who ran the school. In anticipation of the deal, Islamabad had even released... MORE
Musharraf Contends with the Pashtun Element in the Pakistani Army
The recently concluded peace deal between the Pakistani army and pro-Taliban tribal elements in North Waziristan has led analysts to question why Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has backed down from military confrontation (Terrorism Monitor, October 5). The reason that the government made this decision is... MORE
Al-Qaeda Doctrine for International Political Warfare
Do Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and their al-Qaeda organization and its allies conduct diplomacy in the traditional sense of that activity? Given that al-Qaeda and its affiliated factions are not nation-states, have no capital cities and neither send nor receive representatives who can be... MORE
Profiles of Pakistan’s Seven Tribal Agencies
The notion of "tribal culture" in the West often brings to mind images of backward, uneducated and unsophisticated societies. Perpetual chaos in states like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, for instance, is often attributed to tribal culture. It is a sweeping judgment as in many cases... MORE
Shifting Alliances in the Salafi Movement After the Lebanon War
The recent war in Lebanon could become a significant factor leading to a transformation within the Salafi movement in the Arab world. The conflict may also have a similar impact on Salafis as did the Gulf War of 1991. Transformations within the Salafi movement tend... MORE
The West is Running Out of Time in Afghanistan
From all observables, the Taliban insurgency is spreading from its deeply rooted base in southern and southeastern Afghanistan to provinces in the west and east. In addition, several Islamist insurgent organizations active during the 1979-89 jihad against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan—the "old mujahideen"—have... MORE