Rebels see tougher war with Russians in Syria, evoke Afghanistan
Rebels who have inflicted big losses on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad say Russia's intervention in support of its ally will only lead to an escalation of the war and may…
Afghan jihad and Kashmir
ampa, Florida, is a long way from South Asia, but in mid-2011 I was there to attend a conference on Pakistan at the headquarters of the US Central Command as…
SCO and Afghanistan
The changing circumstances in Afghanistan have been advancing a new stress test for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member-states. Seemingly, an effective multilateral response to emerging security threats from Afghanistan…
Why Afghanistan matters even more
Exit and forget. Escape and regret. These are the two modes and moods many countries are conducting themselves vis-a-vis Afghanistan. The first reaction of these countries was shock and disbelief.…
The West owes Qatar a favour over Afghanistan. That was the point
Since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the world’s top diplomats have been beating a path to Qatar, long the gateway to the Taliban and now the essential go-between as the…
Soviet Afghanistan, and Kashmir
Tampa, Florida, is a long way from South Asia, but in mid-2011 I was there to attend a conference on Pakistan at the headquarters of the US Central Command as…
Arming the rebels
Reliance on proxies in the pursuit of policy goals is nothing new for the US, recurring as an element of policy through successive Cold War and post-Cold War administrations –…
Troubles with US-trained rebels a familiar problem
The new band of rebel recruits was supposed to prove the United States could train moderate Syrian fighters to defeat the jihadists in the war-ravaged nation. But soon after returning…
New Afghan opportunity
GEOGRAPHY, shared history, ethnicity, religion, culture and economic interdependence dictate that Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan — good or bad — will always be close and intense. Neither country can disengage…
Stamping out militancy/extremism
Since the February 21 meeting of the National Security Committee announced its decision to accelerate actions against militancy and extremism, action has been in full swing against two externally-oriented militant…
