What’s new? The U.S. government is conducting a formal review of its counter-terrorism direct action operations – ie, those that involve kill or capture. But it is not clear that the review will shed light on key questions about the effectiveness of militarised counter-terrorism efforts or recommend major changes. Why does …

Afghanistan’s infamous Pul-e-Charkhi Prison, which once housed thousands of Islamic Emirate forces and Daesh fighters in its sprawling compound on the outskirts of Kabul, today stands virtually empty, except for the remnants of prisoners’ belongings and discarded documents. On August 15, as the Islamic Emirate drove into Kabul following the …

Afghanistan’s acting deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar appeared in a video interview posted on Wednesday and denied reports that he was hurt in a clash with a rival faction of the Islamic Emirate. “No this is not true, I am OK and healthy,” Baradar said in an interview with …

Senior officials from China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran reached a consensus on Thursday to step up communication and coordination on the Afghan issue, Reuters reported. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister …

Behind closed doors, a meeting is being held in Amman between international stakeholders to discuss normalization with Syria, according to Nedaa Post. Confidential sources revealed to Nedaa Post that an important meeting is held in Jordan revolving around the Syrian issue. The meeting is attended by European and American representatives, …

Last week, the Energy ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon met in Amman, to discuss a plan to transmit Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity to Lebanon, which is suffering from a severe shortage in electricity and fuel. This comes after the first official Lebanese visit to Syria since the …

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum recently revealed that over the past four years, thirty-one “late-stage” terror plots were thwarted by British authorities. The Taliban victory in Afghanistan is likely to embolden UK-based Islamic extremists and McCallum warned that recent events have provided a morale boost to jihadists and their supporters. …

Just last week, the Taliban installed several members of the Haqqani Network in senior government positions, including Sirajuddin Haqqani as interior minister and Khalil Haqqani as minister for refugees. The threat posed by Islamic State Khorasan (ISK) looks likely to bring the Taliban and al-Qaeda even closer together.Because the Taliban …

The Taliban has announced that its government aims to establish ties and diplomatic relations with all countries of the world, except for Israel. According to the group’s spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who spoke to the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik, the group will even allow relations to develop with the United …