South East Asia

Shairbek Dzhuraev, Crossroads Central Asia Peace is on the brink in Central Asia. The border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has reached a new bottom. The clashes of the past week left at least 40-50 people killed, mostly civilians. More than a hundred houses were burned, and remnants of good …

The US and NATO began their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 1 May, with the security situation in the country little better now than it was after the 2001 invasion. US President Joe Biden, in his announcement of the withdrawal in April, called on Russia, China and India to step up …

For better or worse, the United States military is leaving Afghanistan. Proponents for withdrawal argue the U.S. has done all it can militarily in the country, has more pressing security interests elsewhere and may do more harm than good by staying. Critics say the power vacuum the U.S. is leaving …

Nuclear weapons are probably the last thing the Biden administration wants to worry about right now. But given aggressive Chinese and Russian efforts to build new systems, and America’s aging strategic force, the wizards of Armageddon may be back. Chinese and Russian advances were highlighted in last month’s annual “Threat …

The Taliban have announced a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan that will take effect when the three-day annual Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr begins Thursday, marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. The announcement follows a spike in attacks by the Islamist insurgent group against government forces across many …

Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and five wounded in two attacks on military vehicles by unknown assailants Sunday night. Both attacks took place in Balochistan, the Montana-sized province in the southwest of Pakistan where Baloch nationalist groups have waged a decadeslong campaign for independence. The insurgency, which has seen an …

Counterterrorism experts and diplomats at the United Nations are currently negotiating the biennial review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Although the resolution lacks the force of law, it does provide a framework for the UN and shapes the operations of nearly forty different UN funds, agencies, and programs. This year, …

A decade after he was hunted down and killed in Pakistan by US special forces, Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden retains the capacity to mobilise extremists even in a polarised jihadist scene that has radically changed in the last years. Even though Bin Laden’s body was buried in the Arabian …

The Afghan government said it plans to begin talks with 14 countries to discuss what to do with hundreds of their citizens who have been captured while fighting alongside the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Ahmad Zia Seraj, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), said …

America’s latest policies toward China will prove self-defeating. US–China relations now exemplify Freeman’s third law of strategic dynamics: for every hostile act there is a more hostile reaction. Washington would be easy to spot in a game of chess. It’s the player with no plan beyond an aggressive opening. That …