Latest Articles about South Asia
The Disconnection of Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiya and al-Qaeda from the Afghan Jihad Experience
In legitimizing their acts of terror, al-Qaeda and Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiah (JI) frequently draw inspiration from the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad experience of the 1980s. To what extent, however, does the Afghan event justify their violent operations? On July 17, 2009 the twin Jakarta bombings of... MORE
Taliban Issue Interview with the Jihad Leader of Sar-i-Pul Province
Every month, the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan releases al-Somod Islamic e-magazine, a main Taliban propaganda publication. The e-magazine contains religious, political and military articles on the Taliban’s activities. Often, the e-magazine interviews one of the Taliban’s jihad leaders. The forty-second issue of al-Somod carried... MORE
J-10: The New Cornerstone of Sino-Pakistani Defense Cooperation
China and Pakistan have forged a formidable partnership in high-tech defense production. This partnership is born of their ever-deepening military and strategic cooperation that is also reflective of the burgeoning capacity of China's defense industries and the budding Sino-Pakistani defense relationship. The epitome of this... MORE
Tashkent Prioritizes its Strategic Role in Afghanistan’s Future
Uzbekistan’s state railroad company Ozbekiston Temir Yollari has won the Afghan government’s tender to build rail infrastructure linking the northern Afghan border town of Hairatan with Mazar-e Sharif, supported by a credit line extended by the Asian Development Bank. In late November, the Uzbek government... MORE
Terror without Frontiers: Transnational Terror Plots Expose Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Global Reach
The two day visit of American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials on December 8 to brainstorm with their Indian counterparts in the newly established National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other Indian security agencies provided a much needed thrust to the slow-paced Mumbai terror investigations.... MORE
Military Victory in South Waziristan or the Beginning of a Long War?
There is hardly any doubt regarding the critical importance of the military operation in Pakistan’s troubled South Waziristan tribal agency, which is considered to be the epicenter of jihad and the nerve center of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their allies. The latest military operation... MORE
Jihadis Debate Growing Rift Between al-Qaeda and the Taliban
Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s statement on the occasion of the end of Ramadan festivities, published in al-Somod Islamic e-magazine, was seen by many Salafi-Jihadi forum participants as a retreat from true Salafi-Jihadi practices and a sign of unacceptable moderation and concession to the United States... MORE
More Reboot or a Real Strategic Overload?
On December 1, after lengthy consultations with his military and political advisors, President Barrack Obama announced an increase of 30,000 US troops for Afghanistan and sent his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to Brussels to help secure an additional 10,000 troops from other NATO members.... MORE
Separatists, Islamists and Islamabad Struggle for Control of Pakistani Balochistan
To say that the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in October 2001 shook Pakistan to its core would be an understatement. Since then, the war in Afghanistan has spilled over into Pakistan on multiple levels. The escalating cycle of violence between Pakistani security forces... MORE
New Strategies in Pakistan’s Counter-Insurgency Operation in South Waziristan
Pakistan’s recent “Rah-e-Nijat” (Path to Salvation) military operation in the South Waziristan agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has achieved tremendous success since it began on October 17. It is believed that security forces should be able to clear the main towns of... MORE