On September 25, 2021, Afghanistan’s Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammad Hanif said that his government does not want “help and cooperation from the world like the previous government. The old system was supported by the international community for 20 years but still failed.” It is fair to say that Hanif …

The fall of Kabul was inevitable and the only surprising element was the speed of Taliban’s advance. On the part of India, it was a strategic failure and stinging humiliation. India had invested almost $3bn in construction of dams, power lines, schools, roads and training of Afghan soldiers. India even …

A new study found under-reported debts of at least $385 billion owed by different countries to China in the past two decades, and that one-third of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative have run into major implementation problems. The hidden debts, which slipped through the scrutiny of international lenders …

The one-year anniversary of the start of the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia passed this week. By early November of last year, Armenia was defeated by a better-trained and equipped Azerbaijani military. Baku was able to restore its internationally recognized borders and end an Armenian occupation that had …

Tensions have increased recently between Tehran and Baku over three issues: a joint military drill that Azerbaijani troops conducted alongside their Turkish and Pakistani counterparts some 500 kilometers from the Iranian border; Azerbaijani restrictions on Iranian truck drivers’ access to Armenia and the detention of two drivers; and Azerbaijani ties …

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the U.N. political mission in Libya until after the country’s critical presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for late December. However, the U.N.’s most powerfule body remained divided over the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from the oil-rich North …

Egyptian authorities said on Thursday they had blocked a scheme aimed at financing the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and alleged a link to the imprisoned founder and former chairman of dairy and juice firm Juhayna (JUFO.CA), Safwan Thabet. The scheme aimed to funnel funds using Thabet’s companies into “terrorist activities”, the …

Iran’s national army began exercises on Friday near its border with Azerbaijan, state TV reported, putting on a display of military capabilities near a neighbor it is increasingly skeptical of for its ties to the West and Israel. Artillery, drones and helicopters will participate in the drills, the report said, …

The one clear advantage of the Taliban sweeping into power last month essentially unopposed was they seemed to spare Afghanistan more unnecessary bloodshed. But just as the Taliban ceased their own fighting, another brutal jihadi group began to unleash mayhem across the country. The Islamic State-Khorasan, the Islamic State’s Afghan …

KOSOVO-SERBIA NATO peacekeepers stepped up patrols along the Kosovo-Serbia border amid heightened tensions between the two countries. Belgrade, which does not recognise Kosovo’s independence, is angered at Pristina’s new requirement that Serbian drivers travelling into Kosovo buy temporary licence plates. Pristina calls the regulation “reciprocity”, as cars with Kosovo registrations …