Latest Articles about Pakistan
A Holy Warrior Reborn: Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil Enters Pakistan’s Mainstream
Once an infamous militant leader who unleashed a reign of terror in India’s Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1990s, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil looks poised for an image makeover. Recently, Khalil has launched a political front in Pakistan, and he has worked in assisting... MORE
Pakistan’s Most Wanted: LeJ Commander Mati ur Rehman Cooperates to Kill
Few militants have remained on as many most-wanted lists in Pakistan, and abroad, as Mati ur Rehman. Rehman is indeed the most wanted terrorist in Pakistan (Pakistan Today, March 2, 2013). His role in masterminding and perpetrating terrorist attacks against former Pakistani President General Pervez... MORE
What Turkmenistani President’s Visit to Gulf Means for TAPI Pipeline Project
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in mid-March as part of a campaign to revive a long-stalled natural gas pipeline from his country to Pakistan and India (Neftegaz.ru, March 16). The visit occurred three weeks after a February 23 groundbreaking... MORE
The Potential for a New Strand of Islamist Extremism in Pakistan
The emergence of violent Barelvi extremism in Pakistan was brought sharply to the country’s attention last year when Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, an Islamist political party, staged an almost month-long sit-in that later turned violent. The party objected to an alleged change to the wording... MORE
Islamic State Gains Ground in Afghanistan as Its Caliphate Crumbles Elsewhere
Wilayat-e-Khorasan, the Islamic State (IS) affiliate in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of the terrorist group’s strongest franchises. Bolstered by defections from the Taliban and boosted further in recent months by an influx of foreign fighters fleeing defeat in Iraq and Syria,... MORE
Briefs
Afghanistan: Peace Talks Remain a Distant Prospect Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government appear further off than ever after unofficial attempts to restart discussions coincided with an attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul. Taliban gunmen attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul... MORE
CPEC: “Iron Brothers,” Unequal Partners
Serious differences have come to the fore between China and Pakistan over the $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). At a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting at Islamabad in November 2017, China announced its decision to suspend funding for at least three road projects in Pakistan, pending... MORE
Pakistan’s JuA Commander Brushes With Death: A Look at Omar Khalid Khorasani
Few terrorist commanders in the Pakistani militant landscape are as ruthless, or notorious, as Omar Khalid Khorasani, the Emir of Jamaat ul Ahrar (JuA). JuA is part of the al-Qaeda-linked Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network, which is made up of over 42 different Islamist militant groups.... MORE
Briefs
Pakistan: Government Losing Out to the Islamists Pakistan freed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest on November 24, one of a number of recent incidents that have shown the government’s increasing weakness when it comes to tackling the country’s Islamists. Saeed, the alleged... MORE
Al-Qaeda Joins the Kashmir Conflict
Militancy in Kashmir took on another complicating dimension on July 26, when al-Qaeda announced its entry into the strife-torn Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement issued by the Global Islamic Media Front, al-Qaeda’s propaganda wing, Zakir Rashid Bhat (a.k.a. Zakir Musa) was... MORE