Latest Articles about South Asia
Himalayan Impasse: How China Would Fight an Indian Border Conflict
At the end of August, Chinese and Indian troops both pulled back from the Doklam region in Bhutan after weeks of tense posturing. The face off began in June when Chinese construction crews accompanied by soldiers began building a road. The area is sensitive to... MORE
Raising the Militant Flag in Kashmir: Asiya Andrabi’s Separatist Fight
Often labeled as a firebrand female Islamist by the media outlets in India and Pakistan, Asiya Andrabi, the founding leader of the now proscribed Kashmiri separatist women’s organization Dukhtaran-e-Milat (DeM, Daughters of the Nation), has been waging a pro-Pakistan secessionist movement since the early 1980s... MORE
Al-Qaeda’s Quiet Resurgence in India
Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the official South Asian branch of the transnational al-Qaeda network, has spread its tentacles in the region beyond its strongholds. Beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, its influence has reached neighboring India and Myanmar. The emergence of the so-called Base... MORE
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Next Generation Commander: Yousaf Mansoor Khurasani
Few Islamist terrorist organizations in Pakistan are as resilient as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). The violent sectarian outfit surfaced in 1990, after the assassination of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, an anti-Shia, ultra-orthodox Deobandi cleric and founder of sectarian political party Sipah-e-Sahaba (Army of the Companions). And since the... MORE
Sanctioning Syed Salahuddin: Too Little, Too Late
On June 26, the U.S. State Department announced the designation of Mohammad Yusuf Shah (a.k.a. Syed Salahuddin) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). The 71-year-old is “supreme commander” of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the largest Kashmiri militant group operating in the Kashmir Valley, and... MORE
The South-West Transport Corridor Project and the Geopolitical Reshaping of the South Caucasus
Baku hosted the first joint gathering of the heads of the railway administrations of Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Poland, on June 19. The meeting was dedicated to the newly-launched “South-West Transport Corridor,” which links into the broader Trans-Caspian International Route project launched in 2016.... MORE
Jaish al-Adl’s Reemergence Threatens Iran-Pakistan Relations
Pakistan’s tense relations with its neighbor Iran were further impacted on April 27 when militants from Jaish al-Adl (JuA, Army of Justice), a Sunni group that allegedly operates from across the border in Pakistan, killed 10 Iranian border guards in an attack in Iran’s Baluchistan-Sistan... MORE
Breaking With Kashmiri Militant Tradition: A Profile of Mujahideen Taliban-e-Kashmir Commander Zakir Musa
Zakir Rashid Bhat (a.k.a. Zakir Musa), a former Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM, Party of Holy Warriors) commander, has been in the news lately for virtually redefining the long-standing Kashmir militant movement. With his incendiary messages, often interwoven with violent Islamist preaching, he is now calling for... MORE
Does Islamic State Pose a Threat to India?
India first woke up to the emerging threat of Islamic State (IS) on its soil in May 2014, when four engineering students from Kalyan, Maharashtra, joined the group. In the intervening years, the security services have arrested more than 90 IS sympathizers, according to Indian... MORE