Latest Articles about South Asia

The Return of Shari’a Law to Pakistan’s Swat Region

After 16 months of bitter fighting between local Islamists and government forces in Pakistan’s Swat region, the central government has announced the implementation of a set of judicial regulations that will ensure that all legal cases in the region will be decided in accordance with... MORE

Roundup of Kabul Suicide Gang Reveals Ties to Pakistan

Suicide bombings have become a regular insurgent tactic in Afghanistan since 2005, with a special focus on Kabul in the last year. The number of such attacks have grown considerably during the recent years in Kabul, culminating in the February 12 suicide bombings that targeted... MORE

BRIEFS

EGYPTIAN ISLAMISTS URGE AL-QAEDA TO DECLARE A TRUCE Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah (JI - The Islamic Group), once one of Egypt's most feared Islamist terrorist organizations, has issued a statement urging al-Qaeda to observe a ceasefire to better assess the intentions of the new Obama administration in... MORE

Hindu Radicals Pose Terrorist Challenge to the Sub-Continent

The charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court on January 20 against 11 members of the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat – including a serving Military Intelligence officer, a retired Indian Army Major, and nine other activists – has brought the growing landscape of Hindu... MORE

Kazakhstan Raising Its Afghanistan Profile

On January 28 the United States announced plans to purchase a "significant part" of the goods needed to supply its forces in Afghanistan from Kazakhstan. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Richard Hoagland clarified these intentions in the context of the U.S.-Kazakh agreement on the transit of... MORE

Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba Chooses Between Kashmir and the Global Jihad

In a surprising shift of tactics, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist organization has toned down its violent Kashmir-centric agenda, claiming it will pursue a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem. The radical group, blamed for many terror attacks in India, including November’s assault on Mumbai,... MORE

Upcoming Changes to the Drug-Insurgency Nexus in Afghanistan

While there are many Taliban-controlled villages in Afghanistan that do not cultivate opium, there are few villages cultivating opium that are not under Taliban control. The concentration of opium production in a handful of southern provinces has placed Afghanistan’s opium economy almost completely under insurgent... MORE