Most recently, under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and President of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), the ECSSR organized its 19th Annual Energy Conference under the title ‘Unconventional Fossil Fuels: The…
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim country exists in the G-20. It is also the fourth ideal destination for the foreigner expats. It is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East North Africa (MENA) number one economy and Foreign Direct Investment destination. Despite regional socio-economic meltdown, deteriorating law and order situation…
Recent Pak-Afghan summit had many interesting features. Before leaving Kabul for Islamabad, President Karzai had said that it would be his 20th visit to Pakistan, and that earlier 19 had not yielded any results. Afghan President’s visit came at a time when Afghanistan is undergoing important political and security transitions. Draw-down of foreign forces is…
The negotiation phenomenon has officially started and temporarily barred between the US and the Afghan Taliban at Doha. The Karzai administration is also on board with a few reservations. However, reservations are becoming a stumbling block not only against the US but also for the entire dialogue process. The way Karzai is pronouncing statements against…
As John Kerry circumvented Islamabad, Special Representative James Dobbins and Prime Minister David Cameron strived to wear his shoes. After a pro-India statement in New Delhi asking India to play a central role in Afghanistan, and with no tangible proposals with regard to Drone attacks, Kerry hardly had a chance of meaningful engagement with the…
Final countdown begins. The country to host World Expo 2020 will be decided in November 2013. All the four candidate cities i.e. Dubai (UAE), São Paulo (Brazil), Yekaterinburg (Russia) and Izmir (Turkey) have already submitted their final presentations/proposals to Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). Thailand has been disqualified by the BIE. The UAE’s strategic position…
Kashmir issue is on the agenda of the UN. Entire world, including India, acknowledges it as a dispute. However, Kashmir cause has not been able to attract required level of continuous sympathy at the international level. Nevertheless, there have all along been sporadic breezes of freshness through isolated efforts of Kashmiri and Pakistani diaspora. One…
Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. It has had been terrifying the state and people alike around the world in the past. Vested socio-economic, geo-political and geo-strategic conflicting interests have been the main reasons of this menace. It has been projected as struggle between the virtue and vice. It has been persisted battlefield between dragons…
Afghanistan is passing through unfortunate times. Three streams of fragile transition are in progress; all in an indecent haste to meet the 2014 timeline. These are in security, political and economic domains. Though political transition holds the key to success; it is the patchiest of all. Transfer of power to President Karzai’s successor having enough…
High profile inaugural ceremony of Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline on March 11, 2013, marked a watershed in the foreign policy of Pakistan. There was an interesting altercation during the weekly briefing at Pakistan’s foreign office, preceding the ceremony: Emerging regional pivot in our foreign policy is in our national interest; it is indeed reflective of public…
