Pakistan has been urging the international community, including the United States, to comprehensively engage with the Taliban. But Islamabad’s true interests are unclear, as anti-Pakistan terrorist groups freely operate in Afghanistan and Pakistan–Taliban relations remain poor. During Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s September 2022 trip to the United States, he repeatedly argued for full…
One year after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, relations between China and Afghanistan have not progressed significantly. The reason being is that the main obstacles to a non-threatening Afghanistan—China’s principal objective—that existed in 2021 are still present today. China is particularly concerned about the presence of three non-state actors in…
The recent Taliban attack on an Afghan army post outside Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan—the deadliest ever by the Taliban on a military base, killing some 150 recruits—underscores the terrorist group’s growing strength more than 15 years after they were ousted from power. The attack confirms yet again that Afghanistan still has a major security problem…
Summary Pakistan-Iran relations have been complicated since Partition and even more so since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The two countries have worked together on trying to bring stability to Afghanistan, although they do not see eye-to-eye on a future role for the Taliban. There is much potential in their relationship, especially with regard to the…
ContextTerrorists have again struck in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province. The attack confirmed that this resource-rich province remains Pakistan’s weakest security link against militants and separatists. And what’s more, it could threaten China’s massive US$46 billion investment in the multi-faceted infrastructure venture known as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). On Monday 8…
When President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton after she clinched the required number of delegates to become the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, he stated that he thought there had never been ‘someone so qualified to hold this office [of President]’ as her. That was a big call, and I suspect a few people may disagree…
Following Senator Ted Cruz’s much expected defeat of Donald Trump in the 5 April Wisconsin primary, Trump’s goal of winning the majority of delegates by the time the Republican Party holds its convention in July has now become even more elusive. Although the odds of becoming his party’s presidential candidate are against him, it’s still…
Washington’s management of its wobbly and contested Middle East policy has just become whole lot more difficult and complicated with the worsening of tensions between Riyadh and Tehran following the recent Saudi execution of an elderly Shiite cleric on dubious terrorism charges. On the one hand, there’s Saudi Arabia, the uncontested leader of the Arab…
The Paris agreement on climate change is a big win for President Obama, particularly given that he’s invested a lot of political capital in this issue, especially in his second term when he no longer has to worry about having to run for re-election. The outcome of the conference seems to have vindicated his commitment…
For a president who wanted to leave the Middle East behind so that he could focus on other pressing issues—such as the much-publicised ‘rebalancing’ to the Asia–Pacific—Barack Obama wasn’t dealt the best of hands. However, in the case of Syria, a country which has suffered horrendously for the last four years—over 250,000 people have died,…
