
Latest Articles about South Asia

Turkmenistan Encourages Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline
Framework agreements on a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) are scheduled for signing by high-level officials of the four countries on December 11 in Ashgabat (Turkmen Television, Press Trust of India, December 8, 9). Its economics and its political symbolism aside, TAPI’s implementation is hardly conceivable on... MORE

A Portrait of Azam Cheema: LeT’s India Strategist
Mohammed Azam Cheema (a.k.a. Baba/Babaji) is widely regarded as the “number three” of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) anti-Indian operations. Azam Cheema has masterminded several high-profile attacks against India over the years from his safe haven in the dusty city of Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s southern Punjab Province on... MORE

New Light on the Accuracy of the CIA’s Predator Drone Campaign in Pakistan
Widely-cited reports of the inaccuracy and disproportionality of civilian to militant deaths in the CIA’s ongoing Predator drone campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan are grossly misleading. The most detailed database compiled to date, assembled by the authors of this article, indicates (among... MORE

Ranjit Debbarma: A Close Up View of the Leader of the All Tripura Tiger Force
The outgoing chief of the Tripura state police, Pranay Sahay, informed the public during a briefing on October 11 that the top militants of the state are still operating from neighboring Bangladesh, but their strengths are fast dwindling due to the positive approach of the... MORE

The Face of Hindu Extremism: Mumbai’s Bal Thackeray
Background Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, envisioned India to operate as an inclusive, secular democracy. Secularism was a core value in the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885, long before independence from the British Crown. Nehru’s secularist ideology, ideally, attempted to prevent... MORE

Al-Qaeda Exploits Kashmir Conflict to Expand Operations to India
It appears increasingly clear that al-Qaeda is intent on striking in India. In fact, the organization provided assistance in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and may already have been connected to bomb strikes this year. India has remained largely untouched by al-Qaeda directed violence, but the... MORE

Russia is Demanding One-Sided Western Concessions
A number of British newspapers have reported from Brussels quoting NATO sources that “Russia has agreed to return to the war in Afghanistan at the request of Western states.” A “groundbreaking agreement” with Russia may be announced at the NATO summit next month in Lisbon,... MORE

Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Strategy of “Encircling” India
Recent developments in three of India’s neighbors have demonstrated the expanding regional presence, reach and influence of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organization. Going well beyond its Kashmir roots, reports suggest the movement is now establishing a presence in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.Within a span... MORE

The Karakoram Corridor: China’s Transportation Network in Pakistan
In China’s quest to secure raw materials, resources and markets, Beijing has laid out a sophisticated blueprint to develop a region-wide transit corridor throughout the subcontinent. In the Himalayas, it has built rail, road and air networks that can support the Chinese military’s logistic supply... MORE

China Unveils “The Kashmir Card”
Even as the Chinese navy signals its intent to enforce sea denial in the "first island chain" in the East (comprised of the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea of the Pacific Ocean), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is reportedly... MORE