A landmark agreement signed in October saw China extend “emergency fuel assistance” to Nepal in the wake of the serious fuel shortage there. It is expected to pave the way for greater bilateral cooperation. The fuel agreement was preceded by a sharp deterioration in India-Nepal... MORE

Russian leaders have long held a deeply pessimistic view about Afghanistan’s future prospects as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) strategy there (Mil.ru, December 10, 2014). Indeed, late last year, Russian and Central Asian officials raised the possibility of reinforcing Russian army units... MORE

The vice president of Afghanistan, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, made an unexpected visit to Grozny earlier this month. Dostum attended celebrations for the birthday of Chechnya’s ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, surprising all analysts who follow developments in the North Caucasus (Ridus.ru, October 5). The official press... MORE

The recent attack by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) camp at Badaber, located 10 miles from Peshawar, fully displayed the jihadist group’s professional, yet highly violent, nature. Dressed in uniforms of the Frontier Constabulary (a paramilitary force), 14 militants breached the... MORE

Speaking this week (September 15) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)—the Russian-dominated regional defense alliance—President Vladimir Putin detailed his understanding of regional and global security threats. The CSTO summit was notably held in former Soviet Central Asia, in... MORE

Dual armed attacks shook Tajikistan, on the night of September 4, as militants allegedly connected to former deputy defense minister General Abduhalim Nazarzoda fired on a police station and a weapons depot in and around Dushanbe. The resulting firefights with government forces ended with 22... MORE

Afghanistan’s Taliban, in July 2015, confirmed the death of their leader, the amir al-mumineen (Commander of the Faithful), Mullah Muhammad Omar. Refuting allegations that Mullah Omar had lived in Pakistan, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that Omar “did not leave Afghanistan since the U.S.-backed forces... MORE

Unlike the copybook Islamic jihadists or extremist militant ideologues of the Indian Subcontinent, Shafiur Rahman Farabi is an over ground, overt Islamist who is engaged in an online pro-Islamist campaign and incitement against non-believers and free speech activists in Bangladesh. [1] He is notorious for... MORE

One of the first indications of the Islamic State’s potential appeal in India occurred in late 2014, when Aarif Majeed, a youth from the state of Maharashtra, returned to the country from Iraq, where he had reportedly received training from the Islamic State (Times of... MORE

In early July 2015, news emerged that a group of Turkish businessmen had come to Crimea to discuss capital investment on the annexed peninsula. According to Russian and Turkish press covering this visit, the Turkish businessmen expressed their hope to invest a total of $12.5... MORE