Western powers appear to be preparing for the fall of Kabul, after the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada all announced fresh troop deployments to help evacuate citizens and other residents of the Afghan capital on Thursday. The United States will send 3,000 troops to secure Kabul’s international airport and …
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2021
What’s Next for Tunisia’s Transition?
The only solution to Tunisia’s political crisis is a roadmap for getting back to inclusive politics and a renewed social contract. Long heralded as the sole success story of the Arab uprisings, Tunisia was thrown into political tumult on July 25 when President Kais Saied dismissed the prime minister, suspended …
Read More »Afghanistan-Pakistan Ties and Future Stability in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan—and with it the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship—is likely to worsen in the short term. The prospect of a prolonged civil war or full Taliban takeover now looms large as hopes of a negotiated settlement recede. Whatever the outcome, the countries’ bilateral relationship will continue to be shaped by …
Read More »Can the Taliban Be Stopped? Three Scenarios for What’s Next in Afghanistan
No matter where the conflict goes from here, Afghans will bear enormous costs as stability looks to be a distant prospect. The Afghan government has had its most difficult week fighting the Taliban since the insurgency began. As of this writing, 12 provincial capitals have fallen since last Friday, marking …
Read More »Afghanistan’s Second-Largest City Falls to Taliban, as Insurgents Make Rapid Advance
The Taliban conquered the second and third largest cities in Afghanistan, Kandahar and Herat, on Friday as part of a major offensive on the heels of the U.S. withdrawal. The assault on Kandahar carried symbolic weight because it is the birthplace of the Taliban, from where founder Mullah Omar began …
Read More »Algeria sentences journalist to 8 months in jail
Algerian journalist Rabah Kareche, who reported on a protest movement by the Tuareg minority, was sentenced Thursday to serve eight months behind bars, his newspaper Liberte said. It said a court in the southern town of Tamanrasset handed Kareche, who was arrested in April, a one-year term with four months …
Read More »UN Syria envoy urges end to ‘siege-like’ situation in Daraa
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said Syrian civilians living under a government siege in the southwestern city are suffering from shortages of fuel, food and medicine. The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria on Thursday expressed concern over the “alarming situation” in Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian …
Read More »Can Lebanon be cured by Hezbollah’s crisis?
With Lebanon falling apart after decades of Shi’ite domineering, the rest of Lebanon is smelling weakness yet again. Our future is as the Suez [Canal] of banking” a proud Lebanese finance minister Pierre Edde once told The New York Times. It was winter 1965, and the country that was still …
Read More »As Lebanon crumbles, Hezbollah becomes even more emboldened
Lebanon is falling deeper into an economic and social black hole. While Hezbollah is not immune to that crisis, it is still able to play with fire and attack Israel. It’s been a week since rocket-warning sirens alerted Israelis to the dangers of the collapse of Lebanon: a salvo of …
Read More »India-China disengagement process along LAC carried forward amid New Cold War efforts by Biden-led US
This is Part-1 of a two-part article. This part shows how peace and tranquility at LAC is sought to be restored, in spite of a rare clash at Galwan last year. LAC was a rare border where not a single shot was fired, and none killed, in over four decades …
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