Latest Articles about South Asia
Quadripartite Summit On Afghanistan Falls Short of Russian Expectations
Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, and Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan held a quadripartite meeting on September 2 in Dushanbe. The presidents gave preliminary consideration to possible security and cooperation arrangements for the region, in anticipation of... MORE
A Threat to the Khyber Pass: An Extended Portrait of Mangal Bagh Afridi
Coming from obscurity, Mangal Bagh Afridi rose to power and notoriety by controlling Lashkar-e-Islam (LI- the Army of Islam), the biggest and most influential militant group in Pakistan’s Khyber Agency. Khyber Agency is the most strategically important of the seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in... MORE
Uyghur Unrest in Xinjiang Shakes Sino-Pakistani Relations
It has been a difficult summer for China’s restive western province Xinjiang. A series of incidents characterized as terrorism have struck two of the province’s cities, causing death, destruction and ethnic tension. This picture was further complicated when the government of the city of Kashgar... MORE
Iran Uses Cross-Border Incursions to Pressure Iraqi Kurds to End PJAK Insurgency
Iran has recently shelled border villages and launched cross-border raids into northern Iraq to step up pressure on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to stop the anti-Iranian operations of the Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK - Party of Free Life of Iranian Kurdistan). Iran... MORE
China or the SCO: Who will supervise Afghanistan?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit at Astana on June 15, 2011 signalled Asia’s regional security order is slowly shifting as Afghanistan appears to be angling to become a new observer member in this decade-old Central Asian body (Ria Novosti, May 16). The Sino-Afghan relationship... MORE
Haqqani Network Growing Stronger at the Expense of the Tehrik-e-Taliban
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) seems to be slowly disintegrating as various commanders try to pull it in different directions. A clear indication of this process came when the TTP Commander in the Kurram Agency, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, announced that his group had seceded from the... MORE
Mumbai Outraged Once Again: India Blinks, Blames Homegrown Terror
Executive Summary:In the weeks following the July 13 bomb explosions in Mumbai, responsibility for the attacks has yet to be determined. Investigative agencies have not yet pinpointed a suspect nor has any terrorist group claimed the blasts as its own doing, perhaps in order to... MORE
The Man Who Knew Bin Laden: A Biographical Sketch of Hassan Ghul
There is not much known about Hassan Ghul, the alleged conduit whose information led to the killing of former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. The mysterious Hassan Ghul was an important al-Qaeda facilitator, financier and messenger of Pakistani descent with Saudi residency. Ghul... MORE
Fazal Saeed Haqqani: A New Player on the Jihadi Scene in Pakistan’s FATA
The split in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the eve of a military operation in the Kurram agency is a victory for the Pakistan army. In a surprising move, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, a relatively lesser known TTP commander in Kurram Agency, announced on June 27... MORE
Militants Striking Both Sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border to Disrupt Security Cooperation
Eleven cross-border incursions over the last four months in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region have taken place despite several army operations in Pakistan and the NATO presence across the border in Afghanistan, demonstrating the continued strength of militants in the border region. The incursions, allegedly carried... MORE