Security and Defence

After several failed attempts to regain control over the portions of northeastern states seized by Boko Haram, the Nigerian military has finally start..............

Advances are being made against Boko Haram, a fact made evident by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's last-minute bid to influence presidential el..............

The governments of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are exploring options for the Congo to join Uganda and Kenya's proposed pipeline pr..............

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared Nov. 11 that he would stand for re-election in February 2015. However, Jonathan's re-election bid, if su..............

According to Oct. 17 statements released by Nigerian government and military officials, Nigeria has reached a cease-fire deal with Islamist rebel grou..............

In recent weeks, Islamist militant group Boko Haram has seized control of several villages and towns in northeastern Nigeria along the Cameroonian border.

Lesotho's prime minister, Tom Thabane, who fled to South Africa on Aug. 30 to avoid being seized by the country's military forces, is attempting to re..............

In some ways, the future of northern Nigeria's counterinsurgency rests in the hands of Nigerian voters. If President Goodluck Jonathan is elected for ..............

The geopolitics of Nigeria engenders the use of regional militias, which wage insurgencies in part to help their patrons earn political and economic p..............

Militancy is part of Nigeria's national fabric. Whereas it was once a means of expressing political grievance, it has become a tactic militant groups ..............

Boko Haram has recently emerged as one of the deadliest and most brutal terrorist groups with growing international dimensions and repercussions.

According to statements from Sudanese and Egyptian officials, Sudan deployed a platoon-sized military force by sea into the port town of Halayeb, loca..............

In May 2014, the nation of Rwanda commemorates the twentieth year of its brutal massacre.

Relative calm had returned to South Sudan's oil-producing Unity state after government forces recaptured the state's capital, Bentiu, in January. The ..............

The African continent's newest country, divorced from Sudan after much political strife, has placed itself in the international community as a nascent..............

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's neighbors have positioned themselves to exploit and even control mineral resources in the country's most remote..............

Al Shabaab militants launched an attack on the Villa Somalia compound, which houses the Somali presidential palace, on Feb. 21. The attack illustrated..............

Nigerian is facing multiple challenges as the country anticipates national elections in one year's time. The incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan's P..............

Skirmishes between South Sudanese government and rebel forces have continued despite a January cease-fire, but a renewed offensive by the rebels to re..............

Due to geographic constraints on the African continent that force the use of air transport for military deployments over long distances, security oper..............

Cameroon is taking steps to secure its frontier after a spate of kidnappings and skirmishes along its borders with Nigeria and the Central African Rep..............

In the absence of a cease-fire between the South Sudanese government and rebel representatives who are currently meeting in Addis Ababa, both sides co..............

When the long-running civil war in the landlocked Central African Republic (CAR) between rebel and government forces ended in 2007, observers hoped th..............

While South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar claims to be marching on Juba, the South Sudanese military has actually been making strides that will pr..............

Although the South Sudanese capital of Juba remained in government hands Dec. 23, rebel fighters from the country's Nuer tribe control the cities of B..............

A small group of insurgents attempted a coup Dec. 30 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but state security forces have quelled the violence, dis..............

A firefight that broke out late Dec. 15 in the South Sudanese capital of Juba does not appear to have been an attempted coup, as some news organizatio..............

France wants to remain and influential player in Africa, particularly among its former colonies, but its wishes may surpass its ability. Speaking at t..............

An attack on a Nigerian air base shows that ongoing military operations in northeastern Nigeria have not prevented Boko Haram from mounting attacks in..............

The March 23 movement, known as the M23, was created by the ethnic Tutsi former rebels who had been incorporated into the army under a 2009 peace deal..............

The M23 rebel group ended its rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern province of North Kivu on Nov. 4. Leaders of the rebel group..............

Tensions are running high between Mozambique's ruling party and the political opposition, but a return to all-out civil war seems highly unlikely. On ..............

Angolan troops stationed in Cabinda, an Angolan exclave that is separated from the rest of country by a strip of territory belonging to Congo, crossed..............

Violent protests against the Sudanese government continued to spread across the country following noon prayers on Friday, after they began Sept. 22 in..............

New Delhi - According to official sources in the Indian government, the number of Indian nationals who died in the incidents in Nairobi is two. Their ..............

As Somali security forces continue expanding their reach, al Shabaab has remained a capable force that controls limited territory and conducts operati..............

International involvement in eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo appears to be escalating, with a U.N. brigade committing recently t..............

Fighting in Nigeria involving Islamist militant group Boko Haram has increased in recent days, after declining for most of July.

Two weeks before the first round of Mali's presidential election takes place, the United Nations and France signed an agreement July 13 that outlines ..............

Persistent insecurity in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, even after the deployment of peacekeeping forces, has sent the U..............

The Nigerian government has reached an understanding that will lead to a cease-fire with Boko Haram, Nigerian Minister of Special Duties Al Haji Tanimu Turaki announced July 8.

Security operations by the Somali military and international peacekeeping operations in Mogadishu have enabled the country's young government to expan..............

Recent fighting in the southern Somali city of Kismayo between militias led by warlords Ahmed Madobe and Barre Hiraale, both of whom claim the preside..............

The trends in African piracy are changing, though not as quickly or as dramatically as media reports suggest. Western Africa's Gulf of Guinea and east..............

Recent attacks in Niger show that the country has become more vulnerable to jihadist activity originating in several neighboring countries. Although N..............

A Tanzanian-led U.N. intervention brigade is in the process of entering the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu. The 2,500-strong brigade will in..............

The French withdrawal from Mali offers China an opportunity to demonstrate its continued interest in Africa. A country with longstanding interests in ..............

Nigeria is escalating measures to rein in the unrelenting militancy of Islamist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, but long-standing political ..............

Nigeria is escalating measures to rein in the unrelenting militancy of Islamist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, but long-standing political ..............

Rebel activity and successes in the Darfur and Kordofan regions of Sudan have been increasing. While the rebels' claims that they will march on Kharto..............

As the mission in Mali shifts focus, the forces conducting the operations will shift with it. The beginning of French troop withdrawals from Mali come..............

Two years after he took power in Ivory Coast, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara's efforts to pacify the country continue to be undermined by persist..............

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir's April 12 visit to Juba -- his first since South Sudan became independent in July 2011 -- is little more than a ges..............

Seleka rebels in the Central African Republic have taken control of the government in Bangui. On March 24, the rebels overran the presidential palace,..............

Several obstacles remain as the French military's self-imposed deadline for withdrawing from Mali nears. Jihadists continue to attack Malian and Frenc..............

The recent decentralization of al Shabaab makes it extremely difficult for its enemies to identify a center of gravity to attack. The group has succes..............

The conflict in Gaza comes at an interesting time in Egyptian-Israeli relations. Cairo recently saw the Muslim Brotherhood candidate assume the Egypti..............

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has dropped off dramatically in 2012. Successful ship hijackings have decreased from 31 in 2011 (and 49 in 2010) to on..............

Militiamen surrounded the parliament building in Tripoli on Thursday, many arriving in heavily armed trucks, to protest newly elected Prime Minister A..............

Whether an Oct. 24 explosion at a Sudanese arms factory with suspected ties to Iran was the result of an Israeli attack, the incident highlights Iran'..............

North African jihadist group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, appears to be taking precautionary measures ahead of the impending military int..............

COTONOU - Benin authorities have arrested President Thomas Boni Yayi's doctor, his niece and an ex-minister over an alleged plot to poison the leader,..............

Widespread violence and strikes across Bangladesh will soon enter their third month, extending a stranglehold on the economy that has cost the country..............

Tools that promote a stable nuclear relationship between nations are characterised by a congruence of views on non-proliferation of weapon and vector ..............

When the Allies defeated Japan at the end of World War II, they dismantled the Japanese security apparatus and deliberately left the country dependent..............

In spite of recent media leaks and statements, it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will strategically alter its opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. The..............

Seemingly, the highlight of President Obama’s visit was the announcement that India and the United States had come to an understanding on the two ma..............

Democracy does not have to be a blood sport; it can be an honourable enterprise that advances the public interest.” So said a former US president; b..............

The year 2014 ended with a cliff-hanger for the Israeli-Palestinian question. Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas signed the ..............

With the longstanding land boundary agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh on the verge of being clinched, the exchange or transfer of populatio..............

For the most part, the language we have used to describe the massacre of 132 school children in Peshawar has consisted of cliché: the perpetrators we..............

Russia signed a ‘military cooperation’ agreement with Pakistan during the visit of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to Islamabad on November 20, 2014.

Identifying and neutralising the sources of terrorist funding have become global concerns. The United States' Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dan W. Mozena,..............

Iran and Pakistan have been facing issues on the border relating to terrorism and drug trafficking for some time now. This has raised tensions between..............

In the night of November 6, 2014, Pakistani hackers defaced websites of 22 Government departments and organisations in India. On the defaced websites,..............

India’s new National Security Advisor Ajit Doval speaking at the Munich Security Conference in New Delhi on Oct 21 articulated the key shift in Indi..............

Pakistan and its behaviour, often in the past and now more increasingly, are hyphenated with its ‘Deep State’. The latter is left open to readers�..............

I have been asked if I thought the Islamic State or some other militant group is using Ebola as a biological weapon, or if such a group could do so in..............

Early this month, pirates released the hijacked MT Sunrise 689, a small product tanker bound for Vietnam which went missing soon after it left Singapo..............

The recent attempt by the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the new wing of the Al Qaeda, to take control of PNS Zulfiqar, a Pakistan Navy f..............

The Presidential elections were held on 05 April 2014, heralding for the first time in the history of Afghanistan democratic transition of power. Sinc..............

On September 22, Gen Raheel Sharif announced the much awaited re-shuffle of three-star Generals in the Pakistan Army, promoting six Major Generals. Th..............

Hatf IX (Nasr) is a Pakistani ballistic missile which can deliver a sub-kiloton nuclear warhead over a range of 60 km, or 37.3 miles. It is supposed t..............

The recent arrest of Sri Lankan national Arun Selvarajan in Chennai by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for spying on behalf of Pakistan’s ISI is concerning.

U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed a week's worth of speculation Wednesday night on his administration's strategy to combat the Islamic State. As e..............

Islamic State militants seized Tabqa air base in the Syrian province of Raqqa on Aug. 24. Forces loyal to the regime of Bashar al Assad had managed to..............

North African governments are on high alert following reports of potential terrorist attacks. In fact, several Arab countries have already begun to re..............

The inevitable has happened. The Americans have returned to Iraq and are using air power to resist the growing onslaught of IS forces against Kurdish ..............

It is both tragic and funny how the poor Pakistanis take anyone and everyone for the political messiah. All this proverbial messiah needs to do is say..............

As the fighting in Gaza threatens to escalate further, the Indian government has taken the prudent and correct approach by refusing to be stampeded in..............

A sensational story published last week in Daily Mail, UK revealed the ideological goal of Al-Qaeda as Ghazwa-e-Hind, or the final battle in India. It..............

Islamic terror outfits operating on the Indian soil, aided and abetted by Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (..............

While the rest of the world has focused its attention towards bloodbath in the Arab World, where the Islamic State of Syria and al Sham (ISIS), now re..............

Days after reinforcing its borders with Iraq, Saudi Arabia has boosted security around critical facilities countrywide. This is in part a response to ..............

News papers on Sunday July 13 reported yet another Indian Navy warship being involved in an accident. The missile corvette INS Kuthar was reportedly d..............

The Pakistan armed forces have launched a joint military offensive in North Waziristan from June 15, 2014 to wipe out Pakistani and foreign terrorists.

In a political system that is known for its slow pace in decision-making, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent decision to reinterpret the Japanese cons..............

Security Forces (SFs) involved in the ongoing military operation, Zarb-e-Azb [Sword of the Prophet], in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) of the Feder..............

On June 15, the Pakistan Army began a military operation in North Waziristan to “eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and colour”. In the ..............

Little can be expected of a one-month old Government, especially on issues as deeply entrenched as the multiple internal security challenges and crise..............

On Sunday, 15 June 2014, a press release from Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR), announced the launch of “Operation Zarb-e-Azb”, ..............

At 01:30am [PST] on June 15, 2014, Pakistani Air Force jets launched aerial attacks on purported terrorist hideouts in the Degan and Datta Khel areas ..............

In an attack symbolic of the deteriorating security environment across Pakistan, more than 10 terrorists, equipped with suicide vests, grenades and ro..............

A series of attacks by the Taliban in Afghanistan during May 2014 resulted in a few media-persons calling it a Spring Offensive. Is it really a calcul..............

The latest round of ‘peace-talks’ between the representatives of the Radical Islamists (RIs) lead by Tehriq-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the inter..............

Just three weeks after a bomb explosion at the south train station in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, left three peo..............

Growing challenges to China’s national security, both external and internal, have assumed dimensions that demand new thinking and new strategies. Ch..............

The third attack on a railway station in just over two months raises new questions about the potential spread of Islamist militancy in China. The May ..............

The elections have witnessed a relatively higher level of interest in national security issues than hither to. One issue that stood out as a landmark ..............

The Indian nuclear doctrine clearly articulates a no first use strategy. This implies that India would not initiate a nuclear attack but would retalia..............

What exactly did the Bharatiya Janata Party mean when, in its manifesto released on April 7, it professed that it would “revise and update” India�..............

One of the hallmarks of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) held at Qingdao, China in April 2014 was the adoption of an agreement called the Co..............

Iran and Russia are negotiating an oil-for-goods agreement worth US$1.5 billion a month that would see Iran export oil to Russia in exchange for unspe..............

Apprehensions of an attempted revival by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) were proven true when, in the early hours of April 11, 2014, ..............

Several recent writings, including in the context of a possible revision of the Indian nuclear doctrine as mentioned in the BJP manifesto, have mentio..............

One can only be bemused by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s exhortation while inaugurating a recent conference on nuclear disarmament that the need w..............

Comprehensive nuclear disarmament, while being a cherished goal, is still a distant dream. Speaking at an international seminar organised recently by ..............

In the 2013 elections in Pakistan, all the mainstream political parties emphasised their commitment to seek a durable peace with the Tehrik-e-TalibanP..............

Chickens have surely come home to roost in restive Pakistan with the scourge of terrorism - a cardinal of its state policy spearheading its strategy f..............

In a series of arrests, at once indicating a major intelligence breakthrough and the sheer spread of the enduring threat of Pakistan-backed Islamist e..............

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014 and was scheduled to land at the Beijing I..............

The referendum in Crimea on 16th March gave a 97 percent support in favour of joining Russia. The Western countries have held the referendum to be ill..............

Russia has won the chess game. President Putin played well. The other side consisting of the fledgling government in Kiev, President Obama, and the Eu..............

In just a few days, heads of governments of about four dozen nations would assemble in the Hague, Netherlands, for the third Nuclear Security Summit. ..............

Nuclear Terrorism: Is the threat exaggerated? To play the Devil’s Advocate, it is not easy for unauthorized persons to acquire nuclear weapons or n..............

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control at about 2:40 a.m., after departing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia..............

Is Pakistan fighting a losing war against the Islamists? It would appear so given the sort of confusion in the country about what this war is all abou..............

Russia and the West have been at loggerheads over the recent developments in Ukraine. Russian troops have seized Crimea -- a Ukrainian peninsula locat..............

That China is facing increasing dissidence in recent times in its minority areas is a statement of fact that needs no additional corroboration. This d..............

The Indian Ocean rim countries have establishment a number of multilateral maritime mechanisms to address non-traditional security threats and challen..............

A railway station attack in Kunming, China, on March 1 suggests that ethnic Uighur militants, whose attacks in the past mostly targeted police and pub..............

Saudi Arabia is running into trouble in its strategy to weaken Iran by supporting rebels who are trying to topple the Syrian regime. Riyadh is working..............

The very mention of the word nuclear more often than not invokes a sentiment of antagonism towards nuclear energy. Nuclear pessimists often associate ..............

Most Western writings/conferences on India-Pakistan nuclear deterrence tend to try and understand this dyad in a narrow regional box of South Asia. Th..............

Russia has come a long way from the chaotic and fractured days following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now that the country is relatively strong a..............

Security concerns about militants in the Russian Caucasus have dominated talk ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russia inherently breeds instabil..............

The Obama administration will greatly reduce the number of drone strikes the United States carries out in Pakistan since Islamabad has begun peace tal..............

Even as India celebrated its Republic Day to reiterate its commitment to the Constitution and the equality of all its citizens irrespective of religio..............

China’s maritime ambitions are expanding and it is making forays into the deep seas beyond its waters. The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has dr..............

Throughout the Cold War, state-sponsored terrorism was a Marxist-Leninist/Maoist phenomenon that spanned the globe. In Europe, the Soviets and their a..............

The trial of Bangladeshi war criminals that began on 21 November 2011 has generated many controversies. In March 2010, the Awami League (AL) governmen..............

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has announced that the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, the 4,400-megawatt Ninh Thua..............

India faces multiple external and internal security threats and challenges, but its response to defeat these successfully has often been inadequate. I..............

Indian media is touting the arrest of Gudsa Usendi, a spokesman for a regional committee of India's Maoist militant rebels known as Naxalites, as a si..............

The raising of finances by terrorist/extremist groups has been a major source of concern for different world governments, as well as the United Nation..............

There has been a serious concern, at times even a threat perception, that after the American withdrawal in 2014, the Afghan mujahideen would enter int..............

Why did China establish its East China Sea ADIZ? Despite the knowledge that the central three criteria were breached, it covered the disputed Islands ..............

Two related developments; the declaration of ADIZ and the confrontation of a US navy guided missile cruiser Cowpen with a Chinese ship on 5 December 2..............

By moving ahead with its plan to sell its nuclear reactors to Pakistan, China has put the cat among the pigeons. The deal between the China and Pakist..............

China’s unexpected declaration of its AIR DEFENCE IDENTIFICATION ZONE (ADIZ) on November 23 in the East China Sea may have ramifications beyond inte..............

The Naresh Chandra committee on defence reforms had reportedly recommended the appointment of a four-star permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Co..............

It is no secret that our neighbours, Pakistan and China, have constantly been pursuing their unfinished agenda vis-a-vis India. For Pakistan, it is th..............

On November 23, the People’s Republic of China announced a new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) covering a large swath of the East China Sea. ..............

China’s announcement of a new air defense zone in the East China Sea is a dangerous move towards brinkmanship in territorial disputes in the region...............

Important developments are reshaping the contours of West Asia. After around three years of conflict in Syria, the United States, Russia and the Unite..............

India's capacity for self-deception is extreme, and this constitutes the gravest threat to national security. The state's counterterrorism (CT) 'polic..............

“Given the events in Syria and Libya, is the Jihadi movement stronger than ever?” It is a good question, but it is also one that is not easily ans..............

Last week's Security Weekly was the first in a series of analyses intended to gauge the current status of the jihadi movement. The introduction to the..............

The first two parts of this series established the benchmarks we would use to assess the current state of the jihadi movement. This week, we will defi..............

In last week's Security Weekly, which was the third segment of our Gauging the Jihadis Movement series, we began our assessment by defining the moveme..............

In part one of this series, we examined the goals of the Jihadis movement to understand their standard for measuring progress. In part two, we surveye..............

Time and again, Indian security personnel have indicated that the armed groups in Northeast India have sustained their armed violence due to the unint..............

Revelations made by Indian Mujahideen (IM) ‘India operations chief’ Yasin Bhatkal aka Mohammad Ahmed Siddibappa Zarrar aka Imran aka Asif aka Shah..............

The latest attack on the Christians in Pakistan is a painful reminder of how intolerant and indifferent we have become as a society and as a State. Th..............

Within 24 hours over the weekend, two major terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists occurred in different parts of the world.

While plans for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles take shape, the magnitude of the operation should not be overlooked. The effort..............

In an attempt to derail Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League (AL)-led Government’s efforts to suppress Islamist extremism and terrorism within the c..............

The Obama administration, after failing in Iraq and later in Afghanistan, today is itching to carry out military strikes against Syria. In the contemp..............

Indian security agencies arrested three top terrorists - Yasin Bhatkal aka Mohammad Ahmed Siddibappa Zarrar aka Imran aka Asif aka Shahrukh; Asadullah..............

Though afflicted with serious terrorism for over two decades, particularly since the attacks in Mumbai beginning November 26, 2008, India has struggle..............

When Yasin Bhatkal, cofounder of Indian Mujahideen (IM) was arrested on 29 August 2013 at India-Nepal border, there was more of disbelief than relief.

After a delay of nearly five years, India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, was finally launched on August 12 from the Cochin Ship..............

With an aim to monitor and protect information and strengthen defences from cyber attacks, the National Cyber Security Policy 2013 was released on Jul..............

The greatest challenge that the new Pakistan government faces is on the national security front. Over the last decade, the deteriorating internal secu..............

Neither the Pakistani government not the Pakistani Taliban is seriously engaging in talks to try to end the seven-year insurgency in the country, desp..............

The threat of experienced militants returning to Europe from combat in North Africa and the Middle East is fueling debate about immigration and integr..............

The recent attacks in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on foreign mountaineers and security personnel by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), shows the level of ..............

Amid the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which is meant to reassert authority and alleviate public anger, rumors have resu..............

India launched the Indian Navy Ship Vikrant with much fanfare on Aug. 12 from a dry dock in the city of Kochi. The INS Vikrant is the first vessel of ..............

Considering that Pakistan over the past decade has become the global center of transnational jihadism, the Southwest Asian nation's move to craft its ..............

Some of the members are expressing unnecessary apprehensions regarding India’s membership. Unlike China, India has a track record of complying with ..............

The role of technology including communications and information technology (IT) will be crucial to India’s pursuit of a faster, more inclusive and s..............

On July 9, 2013, the Ministry of Defence of Japan released its Annual White Paper 2013 (AWP-2013). This is the first Defence White Paper released unde..............

There has been a spate of attacks on security forces in FATA and Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK), as also terrorist bombings in many cities outside KPK in t..............

The dastardly attack on the Maha Bodhi temple complex in Bodh Gaya on 7 July 2013 points to the rapid growth and spread of terror modules in India, wh..............

When the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, the parties to the conflict were quite evident. The international response clearly demarcated the camps ..............

At least two monks, a Burmese and a Tibetan, were injured in a coordinated terror attack, in and around the Mahabodhi Temple (the Temple of the Great ..............

Egyptian military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced July 3 that the country's president, Mohammed Morsi, had been removed from office in the w..............

There is a great debate underway in Egypt on whether the move to oust President Mohammed Morsi is tantamount to a military coup. Considering that the ..............

The United States made a decision to withdraw from Afghanistan several years ago. That decision carried with it an inevitable logic. Once the United S..............

France's intervention in Mali, supported by other Western states and a large African force, is winding down. Most offensive operations have ended, and..............

Increased immigration and rising youth unemployment, a natural byproduct of the European crisis, have led to rioting in several of Europe's most devel..............

Though afflicted with serious terrorism for over two decades, particularly since the attacks in Mumbai beginning November 26, 2008, India has struggle..............

Optimism has been described as the triumph of hope over experience. The Obama administration’s approach towards China’s cyber looting would be cha..............

The killing of Wali-ur Rehman Mehsud, the deputy commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of militants active in the tribal are..............

The reported death of a top Pakistani Taliban leader in a U.S. airstrike on May 29 could undermine the agenda of Pakistan's newly elected government b..............

The gruesome murder of political leaders by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh has once again brought to the forefront the fragility of the internal security..............

On 24 May, the Taliban launched a large-scale attack through a suicide car bomb outside a compound of the International Organization for Migration (IO..............

Another Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security will be convened on June 5, 2013, this time in the shadow of the slaughter of political lea..............

Much is being read between the lines about the inclinations of the new Nawaz Sharif regime to improve relations with India. However, several potential..............

For over two decades, a dominant section of western analysts harped on the volatilities of the India and Pakistan nuclear dyad, often overselling the ..............

The Pakistani Radical Islamists (RIs) seem to have been the actual winners in the recently concluded Pakistan elections. The RIs, comprising the Pasht..............

John Herz, an American scholar of international relations and law is credited for coining the term “security dilemma”. The dilemma expresses how b..............

On 16 April 2013, China’s State Council published a White Paper titled The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces Page. This 2013 edition is..............

On April 6, 2013, in the biggest-ever show of force by Islamists in the country in recent times, hundreds of thousands of members of the Chittagong-ba..............

Information continues to emerge on the identity of the two Chechen men who are the primary suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. Though we emphasi..............

The identities of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing -- Chechen brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 -- appear to confir..............

The twin bomb blasts during the Boston Marathon on April 16 present new counter-terrorism challenges for the US as well as other countries gearing up ..............

As the world continues to grapple to find ways of responding to North Korea’s threat-mongering, the DPRK is fast losing out on credible provocations..............

Sixteen people were injured Wednesday when an improvised explosive device went off in Bangalore near the office of India’s biggest opposition party,..............

A recent story by a Washington-based reporter, Bill Gertz, in Free Beacon/Washington Times, that Pakistan and China have recently concluded a secret a..............

In a complex world of rapid geopolitical change, anger, disenfranchised groups and largely open borders, a terrorist bombing in Boston, which seems th..............

While winding up the tenure of Pakistan's Parliament (on March 15, 2013), within a short span of the three preceding weeks, both the Senate (Upper Hou..............

Two deadly blasts disrupted the Boston Marathon today. The people of Boston have been terrorized and are panicked. International media are seeking inf..............

Questions over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities have again skyrocketed into the headlines, not because of another threat by Pyongyang but instead ..............

China is rapidly expanding its research into and production, deployments and sales of unmanned aerial vehicles, colloquially known as drones. The prim..............

Once again, and not surprisingly, China and Pakistan have been in the news for making a mockery of the global nuclear order and also exposing its weak..............

The Sinai Peninsula has been a haven for militants and illicit activity since Egypt lost the territory to Israel for more than a decade after the Six-..............

On March 26, the Belgian federal police's counterterrorism force, or Special Units, conducted a felony car stop on Hakim Benladghem, a 39-year-old Fre..............

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a massive series of surprise military exercises in the Black Sea on Thursday, only the second time in 20 year..............

YANGON (AFP) - At least 10 people have been killed in riots in central Myanmar, a local MP said Thursday, in the worst communal violence since Buddhis..............

It is true that our enemies have weakened - some temporarily, some more permanently; but it would be wrong to believe that we have become significantl..............

A booster rocket test last December expected to be a prototype of a long range missile, a third nuclear test in February with a veiled threat for a fo..............

Recent milestones in Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal expansion coincide with a growing governance crisis in its domestic politics. New efforts from Pakis..............

PARIS - (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda source has confirmed the death of one of the leaders of the organisation's north African wing, in the most significant suc..............

Could we have avoided the Hyderabad blasts? The systems and the infrastructure are either faulty or not in place. We have not considered it necessary ..............

Yesterday’s twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad has reiterated that the phenomenon of urban terrorism has taken firm root in India. In less than a decade,..............

Barely hours after reports of North Korea conducting its third nuclear test, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ramin Mehmanparast, reportedly..............

The announcement about the talks (at Kazakhstan in February 2013) between Iran and the six powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China and Russia), after a..............

On 6 April 2000, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, then Chief Minister of Assam presented a statement detailing the activities of the Pakistani Inter Services I..............

Jihadist resistance against French and African intervention forces in Mali has evolved into a guerilla-style insurgency over the past week, as demonst..............

Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has digressed from his hardliner approach by extending the olive branch to China over the South Chin..............

The recent French intervention in Mali comes almost after a year of turmoil in the country, which saw the complete breakdown of its democratic system,..............

The assassination of prominent Tunisian secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid highlights the growing threat of militancy in the country. This threat..............

Now that French forces have fended off a jihadist push into southern Mali and have driven militants out of northern Mali's main population centers, th..............

The Feb. 1 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara comes as Turkey is struggling to manage increasing instability in its periphery and in the region. Due..............

Following a weekend of violent protests, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has declared a 30-day state of emergency and curfew in three major cities t..............

Four days after a large and seemingly well-organized group of kidnappers stormed the Tigantourine gas facility in southeastern Algeria, security force..............

On 8 January 2013, Pakistani soldiers came across the Line of Control (LoC) into Indian territory and ambushed a patrol, killing two soldiers. Unlike ..............

An Egyptian appeals court on Jan. 13 overturned former President Hosni Mubarak's life sentence for direct involvement in the killing of protesters and..............

The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan will continue to reduce troop numbers and significantly curtail combat power on the ground ..............

An effective Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) is the main plank of the ongoing security transition in Afghanistan and critically influences the ..............

In the face of international opposition, North Korea launched a rocket on 12 December 2012 to place a satellite in orbit.1 Its earlier four attempts h..............

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has entrenched itself in northern Mali since March, when a military coup in Bamako triggered the collapse of the Malian army in the region.

As the world watched North Korea launch a rocket Dec. 12, Japan had already responded to rumors of the launch by deploying its $12 billion missile def..............

Prevention and suppression of terrorist financing lies at the heart of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) and promoting and facilitating its impl..............

Egypt's Constituent Assembly approved a final draft of a new constitution early Nov. 30, days before the Supreme Constitutional Court is scheduled to ..............

The battle for Damascus is raging with increasing intensity while rebels continue to make substantial advances in Syria's north and east. Every new ai..............

Despite recent overtures of cooperation between Turkey and Egypt, fundamental geopolitical realities limit the two countries' capacity for partnership..............

Israel on Wednesday launched the biggest military operation in the Gaza Strip since Operation Cast Lead in late 2008. Israeli airstrikes killed Ahmed ..............

In what seems a logical culmination of events, Bangladesh has been given time until February 2013 to address deficiencies in its fight against money-l..............

In October, a leaked U.N. Group of Experts report accused Ugandan and Rwandan officials of supporting M23, a rebel group in the Democratic Republic of..............

The Obama administration's efforts to counter the threat posed by al Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement have been a contentious topic in the U.S. p..............

India’s growth prospects are increasingly uncertain, says a respected commentator.1 This was no doubt said before the Government of India (GoI) anno..............

In end August 2012, the Swedish defence and security company Saab Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian private-sector..............

The Obama Administration’s designation of the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) is an important step that will facilitate U...............

For some months now, the Indian Army’s ‘Cold Start’ (CS) doctrine has been attracting a lot of attention from Western diplomats, generals and po..............

Indian Maoist militants, known as Naxalites, have been meeting with members of the outlawed Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according ..............

The acting Secretary General of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), A.T.M. Azharul Islam, on October 18, 2010, admitted that it was a crime to give immunity to..............

The Oct. 29 discovery of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) inside two packages shipped from Yemen launched a widespread search for other devices, an..............

It is relevant to revisit China’s Kashmir policy as Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has reportedly raised “difficult questions” with his Chine..............

Sinister and myopic agendas may not constitute good strategy in the long run but, on occasions, if Pakistan’s infamous Inter-Services Intelligence (..............

China’s territorial claim on Arunachal Pradesh and the unresolved border dispute in the eastern sector are major irritants in India-China relations.

'Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence and Security Review' details how our Armed Forces will be reshaped to tackle emerging and future threats.

Doctor Muhammad Farooq Khan, a renowned religious scholar and Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Swat Islamic University, was shot dead on October 2, 2010, b..............

As a growing regional power, India’s unstable strategic environment, unresolved territorial and boundary disputes with China and Pakistan and contin..............

The September 7 collision between a Chinese fishing trawler and a Japanese coast guard patrol boat may have been quietly resolved through diplomatic c..............

The U.S. government issued a warning Oct. 3 advising Americans traveling to Europe to be “vigilant.” U.S. intelligence apparently has acquired inf..............

Within a span of just three days, at least 111 persons were killed and 443 were injured in a series of five sectarian terrorist attacks across all the..............

It has now been nine years since al Qaeda attacked the United States. It has been nine years in which the primary focus of the United States has been on the Islamic world.

As a part of India’s ‘Look East policy’, the Defence Minister, A.K. Antony, undertook a two-day visit to South Korea on 2-3 September 2010. Anto..............

On 15 March, terrorists mounted suicide attacks on two churches in Lahore, Pakistan. While this was not the first attack on an institution or individu..............

Six months after assuming office, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has finally made his choice of selecting a strategic partner amid questions over what ..............

The rise of ISIS and related events reflect the turmoil within Islam. There is the Islam versus the rest where the extremist believes Islam is in dang..............

As the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) reduce their military footprint, Afghanistan faces a threat from illicit narcotics trade that i..............

Tools that promote a stable nuclear relationship between nations are characterised by a congruence of views on non-proliferation of weapon and vector ..............

The potential ideal of cyberspace has always been a free-flowing, borderless utopia. In this vision, information and ideas travel freely from user to ..............

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Feb. 25 and the two countries updated their bilate..............

Recent Egyptian airstrikes in Libya have drawn attention to increasing international and regional involvement in the Libyan conflict. Still, a number ..............

Economically dependent on the foreign presence, Afghanistan will need to work hard to succeed on its own. NATO forces led by the U.S.

An ongoing rebel offensive in Yemen is, in many ways, a continuation of what the Arab state has seen since the establishment of a republican polity in..............

Of all the coups, overt and covert since 1947, the military in Pakistan should be smiling at the invitation by the Parliament to set up military court..............

The division of the Indian subcontinent between two major states, India and Pakistan (as well as a minor one, Bangladesh), may not be history's last w..............

The year that just got ended, despite what critics would find faults with, was not all that bad. Despite the multiple negative developments in the reg..............

One hundred years ago, on Dec. 25, six months into the Great War (WW1), some British, German, Indian, Austro-Hungarian, French and Russian soldiers al..............

Almost 130 innocent school children died in Peshawar on December 16 in one of the most brutal terrorist strikes in recent history. The Tehreek-e-Talib..............

Exactly 100 years ago, on Dec. 20, 1914, tens of thousands of French troops fixed bayonets and advanced on German lines amid the sound of heavy artill..............

Standing up for one’s rights is not warmongering; nor are dissent and criticism signs of disloyalty. On the other hand, appeasement and sycophancy a..............

Seventy-three years ago, in the early morning of Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft were dispatched from six fleet carriers, th..............

Six years ago, in November 2008, a group of Pakistan-based terrorists landed at unsecured waterfronts in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, and a..............

This month marks the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Basra, the decisive opening action of the World War I Mesopotamian campaign. In fall 1914, ..............

As the deadline for nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 is closing in on November 24, one thing is clear. Both parties are seriously engage..............

The election of Hassan Rouhani as the President of Iran re-invigorated the dialogue between Iran and the P5+1 on the long drawn Iranian nuclear deadlock.

U.S. President Barack Obama has committed the United States to the task of heading a multi-year international campaign to defeat the transnational jih..............

The eagerly awaited Modi-Obama summit, scheduled for September 29-30, is expected to "set an ambitious new agenda to chart a new course in the relatio..............

The 13th anniversary of 9/11 on Thursday this year is characterized by a sense of deja vu. In September 2001, the enormity and audacity of the terrori..............

Kyodo News reported Aug. 3 that Japan intends to involve its armed forces in a plan to set up a space monitoring force by 2019 to improve the country'..............

Even though nuclear security is solely the sovereign property of a state, countries definitely need to ensure and agree upon the collective and mutual..............

In a barely noticed event, forty bishops, scholars and activists had gathered in the Catholic University of Notre Dame in end-April to explore how the..............

According to estimates, the Indo-Pakistan rivalry strangles $8 billion of trading potential, feeds into the $60 billion investment gap, and saps our e..............

It is not uncommon for media reports to refer to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant as a terrorist group. While the group certainly does have ca..............

In early June this year, Russia decided to lift its self-imposed arms embargo on Pakistan. By this Russia has sent the signal that it is opening up to..............

China’s National People’s Congress in March 2014 announced that it would increase its defence budget to 808.23 billion yuan (132 billion dollars)...............

The Internet is more a story of chips and hardware than it is about social media, search engines and algorithms. Fundamental shifts in socio-technical..............

President Obama’s major initiative launched in Washington in 2010 will enter its next stage with the convening of the third Nuclear Security Summit ..............

Leaving behind the intense controversy over delays, price escalation and compromises on all except the quality, the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya was ..............

On November 16, Defence Minister A K Anthony received from Russia and commissioned India's largest aircraft carrier INSVikramaditya, bringing to an en..............

On 05 November 2013, Pakistan’s Strategic Forces Command once again tested the 60-km range Hatf-9 (Nasr) short-range ballistic missile (SRBM). Salvo..............

Nuclear decision-making is only partially dependent on the doctrine. While the operational as against declaratory doctrine will inform such decision m..............

In recent months, the Defence Minister, A K Antony, has been repeatedly exhorting the armed forces to procure their weapons and equipment from indigen..............

With the Presidential succession smoothly out of the way, the stage seems set for the most eventful decision Nawaz Sharif may have to make during the ..............

WASHINGTON, September 9, 2013 - Over the past year, China’s leadership has indicated that it is intent upon pushing maritime development. In a rece..............

On October 17, 2000, when India's Information Technology Act (IT Act) came into force with global jurisdiction as its basis, the first stroke for cybe..............

On 6 August 2013, Japan launched its largest warship since World War II in a fresh demonstration of Tokyo’s steadily expanding naval capabilities. T..............

Since his assumption to office as Prime Minister of Japan in December 2012 following his landslide victory to the Lower House elections, Abe Shinzo, h..............

While speaking at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in mid-June 2013, President Barack Obama of the United States once again outlined his vision for nucl..............

India has tested a two-tier missile defence shield and is getting ready to place it around its two major cities, Delhi and Mumbai. There are three iss..............

Crude oil, which is an important factor in the global geo-politics, is seeing wide swings in the international market. From record highs, it has now f..............

With significant shifts in the global energy market, the Indian Government is working out a new energy policy which will be transparent, investment fr..............

India needs to prepare towards a higher regulatory regime as mega-regional groups like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade an..............

Crude oil prices have always been a major factor impacting the Indian economy, as around 75 per cent of India’s crude oil requirements are met throu..............

It is time for India and the United States, the world’s leading democracies, to become full-fledged energy partners. Doing so will go far toward mak..............

Though most eyes have been focused on falling oil prices, with Brent crude now sitting at about $51 per barrel, an overlooked trend happening concurre..............

In the current era of globalisation, there is a growing realisation that no country can tread the course of growth and development in isolation with t..............

The 18th SAARC summit is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, in a little less than three weeks from now. The theme of the summit is ‘deeper in..............

Since India's Look East policy was initiated in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's relations with South-East Asian nation..............

The Gulf States, Libya and Iran The Middle East and North Africa contain the greatest concentration of oil-dependent economies in the world. The regi..............

Since mid-June, the price of Brent crude oil has fallen by nearly 25 percent -- going from a high of $115 to about $87 a barrel -- and structural fact..............

Last Friday when the Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank [AIIB] at Beijing along wi..............

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was recently launched in Beijing and will be operational by 2015. China’s proactive role in the matt..............

Bangladesh, India, China and Myanmar-Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) is a sub-regional grouping that seeks to deepen friendly cooperation among the four m..............

With the recent report1. of two American companies – Chevron and ExxonMobil – dropping out of the race for the long-struggling TAPI gas pipeline p..............

The global oil benchmark, Brent crude, fell Thursday to about $92 per barrel before rebounding to finish the day at around $94 per barrel, the lowest ..............

India's stand at the WTO negotiations on signing up the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) may have greatly disappointed the US. In his recent visit t..............

At the 6th summit at Fortaleza in Brazil, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries announced a seed capital of US$50 billio..............

At the recently held sixth BRICS Summit at Fortaleza, Brazil, the informal group of five emerging powers representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and..............

It’s just been a month and Narendra Modi led NDA government is already confronting impediments on almost all crucial fronts. With the 80 per cent In..............

The European Parliamentary elections took place last month. The EU, with its 28 members, went to polls from May 22 to May 25 to elect country represen..............

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will sign the foundation treaty of the Eurasian Economic Union on May 29, with the bloc set to formally debut on Jan. 1, 2015.

During the third Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Naypyidaw, Myanmar in March..............

Washington (AFP) - The dark world of cybercrime has evolved from one of rogue individuals to a functioning market-based economy with its ups and downs..............

Corruption, Bribery and Corporate Frauds have emerged as the No. 1 risk affecting corporate India, primarily due to the unravelling of scams and fraud..............

It is widely thought that non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) are the main obstacles to intra-regional trade in South Asia. Intra-regional trade in So..............

The key strategic challenge in Asia today finds its roots in the increasing friction between economic and security interests of nations. The countries..............

India has been working on plans of building economic corridors in Northeast India’s neighborhood to boost foreign trade and to give the economy the ..............

Unemployment usually moves in a cyclical way depending on the business growth cycle. However, the European Union (EU) has caught a longer lasting and ..............

The ninth ministerial conference of the WTO held in Bali has been projected in the Indian media as a triumph of India's food security needs.

Vietnam's recent granting of seven oil blocks in the South China Sea for exploration by India is part of a plan to internationalise Hanoi's territoria..............

The popular unrest that has brought Thai politics to a standstill is not particularly remarkable; political instability in the country has occurred cy..............

The ninth ministerial conference of the WTO held in Bali is projected in the Indian media as a triumph of India's food security needs. The view, howev..............

Teri’s report ‘National Energy Map for India :Technology Vision 2030’ estimates that in the Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario, our commercial ene..............

The idea of constructing a 1,700 km long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indian pipeline, which was in limbo for more than ten years, suddenly seems..............

NEW DELHI, September 21, 2013: FICCI CASCADE along with Ernst & Young has taken another step in the direction of deepening its understanding of the e..............

India's new Food Security Bill provides more food for the country's rural and urban poor at subsidized prices. However, the move could have repercussi..............

Kazakhstan is struggling with stagnant oil and natural gas production and flagging energy revenues, and in response it plans to turn to outside patron..............

The BRICS are now five years old, and the modest agreement on establishing a development bank and pooling of currency reserves moves the grouping beyo..............

An era ended when the Soviet Union collapsed on Dec. 31, 1991. The confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union defined the Cold War p..............

A deal up for discussion at the BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, this week could yield a concrete move away from U.S.- and European-dominated int..............

The global financial crisis of 2008 has slowly yielded to a global unemployment crisis. This unemployment crisis will, fairly quickly, give way to a p..............

Until recently, we had taken a very compartmentalized view of national security. Each threat to national security was neatly fitted into one compartm..............

Shri Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for External Affairs said that India need to go for better integration with international markets for strategizin..............

A decade can make a great difference. The 1997-98 Asian financial crisis seemed to spell the end of the "Asian miracle", while now, a little more than..............

Cyberspace has become a full-blown war zone as governments across the globe clash for digital supremacy in a new, mostly invisible, theatre of operati..............

On Jan. 19, 1915, the German Admiralty received permission to carry out a bombing raid over England's eastern coast. Two L-series airships succeeded i..............

The topic everyone on Wall Street is discussing urgently but quietly isn't the volatile stock market.It is Ebola.While thousands of health care worker..............

In one of his short stories entitled "Higher Mathematics", written during the period 1935-1950, R K Narayanan had jocularly written "Any news that men..............

American writer-intellectual Gore Vidal once said, “The 'war on terrorism' is a war of ideas; and ideas cannot be bombed out of existence.

Rising trends in piracy in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, over the last few years have forced States to adopt innovative and collaborativ..............

There is a tiny division in the massive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the US. Its size doesn't denote its importance, or the flurry of acti..............

Security forces in India were on red alert as Republic Day approached with all personnel busy guarding the vital installations and defending the count..............

A new draft of the European Union (EU)-initiated International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities is out. The text of this draft is a huge pro..............

With the growing dependence on outer space assets for socioeconomic, developmental and military purposes, the number of players in outer space is grow..............

International Launch Services, a U.S.-Russian joint venture, is expected to launch a Russian Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhsta..............

The Space Fence, or what is formally called the U.S. Air Force Space Situational Surveillance System (AFSSS), operational since 1961, is being shut do..............

A low-intensity debate has been taking place in India as to whether India should have a declared space policy or not. The general consensus appears to..............

Although most Iranians are celebrating their nuclear deal with the P5+1, the framework ‘understanding’, once implemented, will effectively block I..............

Soon after its formal establishment in 1932, Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen and absorbed the Yemeni provinces of Asir and Najran, in 1934. Since then, Sau..............

In the coming decades, Australia's water resources will be stretched not only by climate and domestic consumption but also through export. Australia w..............

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will travel to Addis Ababa on March 23 to address Ethiopian lawmakers before traveling to Sudan to sign an agr..............

In 1994, at the height of genocide in Rwanda which killed over 800,000 in 100 days, the shocked international community vowed to not stay silent on th..............

China’s State Council spokesperson Fu Ying announced (Beijing, March 03) that China’s defense budget for 2015 will increase by 10% to 889 billion ..............

Last Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia. Saudi King Salman met him at the airport. The Saudi king typically meet..............

Saudi Arabia had, for the immediate short-term, seemingly successfully launched the process of transition to monarchs coming from the next generation;..............

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former head of Egypt's armed forces, has proposed a familiar (but flawed) solution to the region's emergi..............

The battle lines of the Middle East are changing. The chaotic force of the Islamic State has pushed the region's major powers — Turkey, Saudi Arabia..............

In one of the most significant changes to Tokyo's foreign aid charter in more than a decade, the Japanese Cabinet has modified the rules for its overs..............

The path breaking agreement, dramatically ‘operationalised’ in the 25 January meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Ob..............

Ever since the horrible attack on school children in Peshawar, there have been a series of measures within Pakistan in responding to militancy. A Nati..............

Because of its massive river systems and variety of climates, India is not always the first country that comes to mind when considering water stress i..............

Saudi King Abdullah died Jan. 22 in a hospital after suffering from a lung infection. The monarch's death has long been expected, and a succession pla..............

Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, concerns are growing about a rise in Islamic mili..............

The establishment of the Khorasan chapter of the Islamic State in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region strengthens the Islamic State's image as a phenomeno..............

The establishment of the Khorasan chapter of the Islamic State in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region strengthens the group's image as a phenomenon with g..............

In the immediate aftermath of the Peshawar carnage, Pakistan’s National Assembly and Senate approved the 21st Constitutional Amendment on 8 January ..............

The coming week will be an important one for Iran's relations with the United States. With just six weeks to go before the deadline in the nuclear neg..............

In a dramatic turnaround of political fortunes in the island nation, Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena, leader of the New Democratic F..............

All of Sri Lanka and all Sri Lankans can congratulate themselves for the smooth power transfer at the end of an eventful decade of President Mahinda R..............

Incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat in the nation's Jan. 8 presidential election. His opponent in the polls was former He..............

On the occasion of the third death anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on 17 December 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a special mes..............

The Middle East is one of the most volatile regions in the world — it is no stranger to upheaval. The 2009 uprisings in Iran and the brinksmanship o..............

The US has a long history of failed military campaigns abroad, and an entrenched proclivity to 'declare victory and run'. As 2014 came to a close, the..............

The 13-year NATO combat mission in Afghanistan formally ended on Dec 28, 2014 with a ceremonial lowering of its green flag and a pledge by top officia..............

In early December this year, Russia sprang a huge surprise by signing a gas deal with Turkey that will enable Russia to pump natural gas into a Turkis..............

As the United States and its NATO allies put the finishing touches on their military drawdown in Afghanistan, Washington and some of its Western and M..............

Washington, Beijing, Moscow and now Kabul are convinced that Islamabad is serious about quelling terrorism this time around. Prime Minister Nawaz Shar..............

It took the massacre of 137 schoolchildren at the hands of Taliban rebels on Dec. 16 to bring Pakistan to an inflection point regarding its struggles ..............

Though it is going to take a long time to defeat the Islamic State (IS), and it must be defeated, some silver linings of the very dark cloud the IS re..............

Japanese voters are expected to overwhelmingly support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his plan to revive the country's economy, known colloquially as A..............

Intense global pressure on Russia has led the country to be more assertive at the global stage. The sanction regime, which was imposed in the wake of ..............

China has proposed to revive the centuries-old ‘Silk Road of the Sea’ into a 21st century Maritime Silk Road (MSR). The MSR initiative has a clear..............

Despite losses in Syria, Iran's net strategic position remains better than that of its main rival, Saudi Arabia. The key reason is that Shiite-majorit..............

On Dec. 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his annual address to Russia's Federal Assembly — the Russian equivalent to the U.S. president's St..............

Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting India in the second week of December for what will be the 15th annual summit between the two countries.

After almost two years of the election of Shinzo Abe as the Prime Minister of Japan, he and and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time at..............

The excitement that greeted the handshake between the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers at the end of the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu is as unne..............

The Chinese navy continues to greatly expand its seaborne forays across the globe, as well as its general activity closer to home. Because of this, th..............

Three Asian powers – China, India and Indonesia – have, in recent times, attempted to project their power potential by recalling their maritime hi..............

Some of the challenges that China is facing in South Asia, particularly in dealing with Pakistan and with Afghanistan are outlined in an article by th..............

The US midterm poll results have considerably reduced President Obama’s control over US foreign policy. With the Republicans’ seizing majority i..............

During the past few weeks, the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan have visited China. Less than a month after his installation as Hamid Karzai's succ..............

India desperately needs a strategy to deal with Afghanistan after the US troop draw- down is complete. The just concluded trilateral tie-up between Ch..............

Although the United States will remain involved in Afghanistan, a new arrangement will shape regional security in the post-NATO era as the war-torn co..............

China's recent foray into the East and South China seas is not its first, but it is perhaps its most substantial. For a number of reasons, Beijing is ..............

The 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit is taking place in Kathmandu at the historic moment when South Asia is going ..............

A look at the electoral map Wednesday morning showed U.S. Republicans sweeping the Senate and expanding their majority in the House of Representatives.

Amitav Ghosh is to my mind the most brilliant, serious fiction writer alive today. His emerging Ibis trilogy, about individuals caught up in the 19th-..............

The Islamic State (IS) has demonstrated a remarkable capability in enticing young Muslims from a variety of European countries into the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.

As violent jihadis activities in Syria and Iraq intensify, the number of foreign nationals enrolling to fight for the Islamic State (IS) is witnessing an exponential growth.

After about six months of trying to negotiate with Iran, Saudi Arabia has backed out of the process. Riyadh aborted the process after determining that..............

Incumbent President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil's Workers' Party narrowly won a runoff election Oct. 26 against challenger Aecio Neves of the Social Demo..............

China's Communist Party leaders convened their annual meeting of the Central Committee on Monday, with a focus on "comprehensively advancing the rule ..............

With prospects for a bilateral meeting between Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Coo..............

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Oct. 14, during three days of significant business negotiations and deal signi..............

Will the new political arrangement (President and a Chief Executive Officer) in Afghanistan work, and more importantly, deliver? Though it looks simpl..............

Even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been travelling widely across continents to bolster Japan's diplomatic reach, he is sorely aware that he is ..............

At the heart of increasing tension and strategic turbulence in the South China Sea (SCS) region is the sovereignty disputes over "rocks and islands."

Earlier this year, Indonesia was shocked by ISIS propaganda spread via YouTube to recruit new members. In fact, in certain parts of Java, some have ev..............

Strange things are happening in West Asia. Those who created the modern jihad in an extremely misguided and immature tactical response to the Soviet i..............

On 21 September 2014, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan declared Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of the country’s preside..............

After 13 years of war, the Obama administration and Afghanistan's new government signed a bilateral security agreement Tuesday. The agreement is inten..............

Back-to-back reciprocal presidential visits seldom happen between nations of the world other than to avoid or defuse wars. That too are rare in this e..............

India’s Mars orbiter mission tells the world that the more technology was denied the more determined the country became to master space technologies.

Here begins our tale: The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been." This opening adage of Romance of the Thr..............

The rise of ISIL and the security threat it poses to the region provides one of the rare opportunities for the erstwhile rivals, Iran and US to cooper..............

At an international conference held in Paris on September 15, 2014, leaders of over 30 countries participated to discuss ways of countering the Islami..............

Pakistan is undergoing a major reshuffling of its top brass, with five senior generals due to retire in October. On Thursday, BBC Urdu reported that I..............

A recent statement by the Dalai Lama that he might abandon the tradition of having his successor chosen by the traditional process of reincarnation co..............

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting held on July 31, 2014 at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a decision has been taken t..............

Polls released today showed for the first time that a majority -- an extremely small majority, but a majority nonetheless -- of Scots favor independen..............

The 20th century saw the rise and fall of two demonic ideologies, fascism and communism. The present century is also facing a similar existential thre..............

With the killing of the second American journalist on September 2, there is intense 'shock and awe' in the US at the brutal and cold blooded manner of..............

Something quite strange has happened in Pakistan in the last couple of days. Just when it seemed that it was all over for the civilian government led ..............

Let me begin with a perspective on the current geopolitical landscape. As is frequently the case the present often finds an echo in the past. In the 1..............

On 22 August, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his two-day trip to Mongolia, which is noteworthy not just because he signed as many as 26 agree..............

The just concluded visit by India’s External Affairs Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj to Vietnam and, with it, the renewed attention to ONGC Videsh's a..............

What is a security actor and how is it different from being a great or major power? In many ways, this question is central to understanding the lack o..............

After visualising India as the 'net-provider' of security in and for South Asia, as then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had mentioned, the nation may n..............

Iran has sent a senior diplomat to Saudi Arabia for the first time since talks with the United States over the Iranian nuclear program began about a y..............

The euphoria in Pakistan about peaceful democratic transition seems to have run out its course. The military has once again bounced back as the main d..............

Pakistan Army’s tacit support to the protestors in the ongoing protests at Islamabad has created the atmosphere for political instability and renewe..............

Like Pakistan, the nation, its army has been passing through turbulent times. The army’s counter-insurgency operations in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (erstw..............

Not even two years after Chinese President Xi Jinping took power, China has been shaken by its largest anti-corruption drive since the post-Mao period.

Has the shooting down of MH-17 heralded the start of a new Cold War? Observers in the west have likened the situation in Europe to 1914 and the hawks ..............

Barely 14 months after an unprecedented democratic transition of power in Islamabad, Pakistan is on the brink of a political conflict that threatens t..............

China's Foreign Ministry on July 18 said it had appointed a special envoy for Afghanistan, underscoring Beijing's concerns over developments in that c..............

The fate of the Middle East has changed many times in the past one thousand years and more – for better and worse. But, the recent string of events ..............

Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign is the broadest and deepest effort to purge, reorganize and rectify the Communist Party leader..............

US’ policy towards the turmoil in the Middle East, or the lack of it, is shaped by three factors: traditional ties and alliances that continue in th..............

Humanity heaved a sigh of huge relief when UN and US together announced that both Israel and the Hamas had agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire starting fro..............

Notwithstanding Russia’s growing military strength, it faces fresh political challenges in Central Asia in the aftermath of Putin’s action in Ukra..............

The borders of modern-day Central Asian states were drawn by Soviet policymakers under the direction of Josef Stalin in the 1920s and 1930s. Soviet of..............

Few may have paid attention to the recently held (June 21-28) massive military “snap inspection” drill by Russia in its Central Military District ..............

The Greater Indian Ocean is the maritime organizing principle of geopolitics, uniting the entire arc of Islam (including the Red Sea and the Persian G..............

India has often been criticized for its lacklustre Central Asia policy. India banked too much on US presence in Afghanistan, and for quite a few years..............

New Delhi, Jul 23 2014 (IPS) - The sixth BRICS Summit which has just ended in Brazil marksthe transition of a grouping based hitherto on shared concer..............

As Thailand's military regime issued a new interim charter and the political turmoil in Cambodia began to ease, the likely loser of Indonesia's presid..............

The United States and Iran have put off hard decisions on a nuclear compromise for another four months. The gap between the U.S. and Iranian positions..............

The sixth joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was held in Beijing from July 8-10. It is a very convenient point to ..............

As the global citizen was eagerly expecting the commencement of a cease-fire earlier announced to come into effect on July 18, the breaking news came ..............

Last week’s headlines, about the downing of the Malaysian airliner with nearly 300 people on board over the Donetsk region on 17 July 2014, is a tr..............

U.S. President Barack Obama gave a news conference July 18 on the Malaysian airliner that was shot down in eastern Ukraine. In the conference, Obama s..............

Within a span of two months, there has been an unfortunate turn around to the electoral and thereby the larger democratic process in Afghanistan. Afte..............

In recent days, China’s proposal for a Maritime Silk Route (MSR) has been a subject of speculation and debate. Beijing’s plan for a maritime infra..............

The heads of state and government of the European Union met July 16 to discuss two of the most important issues on the bloc's agenda: the EU-Russian s..............

The sixth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit begins July 14 in Brazil. The three-day summit is expected see plans finalized for..............

The US’ influence in South Asia is fast diminishing and this trend is likely to continue deep into the future. In the aftermath of World War II, Sou..............

On the first day of the month of Ramadan (June 29, 2014), the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate (state) was declared in Iraq by the Islamic St..............

My Memories of Manas A few weeks ago, when I landed in Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, the Manas International Airport had a deserted look with only a few local aircrafts parked at bay.

Hundreds of militants have been killed ever since the military in Pakistan launched an offensive against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the co..............

Yes, Iraq is imploding and unless a miracle happens we shall have to write the obituary of Iraq as a state to be succeeded by a Kurdistan, a Shiistan,..............

The causes of war are generally attributed to territory, power, religion, genocide, retaliation against major terror attack, regime change, clash of c..............

On June 28th and 29th, 2014, China, Myanmar and India jointly convened the Meeting Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Initiation of the Five Principl..............

On June 28th and 29th, 2014, China, Myanmar and India jointly convened the Meeting Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Initiation of the Five Principl..............

Iraq has been in a state of crisis for over a decade now. To specify an exact date in its recent history as the commencement of its crises is indeed h..............

As foreign diplomats arrived in Vienna on July 2 for the sixth round of talks between representatives of Iran and P-5+1 countries, key sticking points remained unresolved.

The recent declaration of a caliphate by the Sunni jihadi outfit, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), should ring alarm bells all over. By this a..............

After having overrun Mosul and Tikrit, armed militants of the al Qaeda-linked militant organisation the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS; also ca..............

The dramatic developments in Iraq where Sunni militants have overrun large swathes of territory with the aim to establish a regional caliphate are lin..............

Just days after watching a much-awaited counteroffensive against jihadis in North Waziristan, Islamabad finds itself distracted by the homecoming of p..............

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, buoyed by its recent successes in Iraq, wants to expand its regional reach. Reports that Iraq has withdrawn ..............

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his security establishment is facing major challenge as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has taken ..............

Finalising a new bilateral United States-Philippines defence cooperation agreement comes off as a bulwark to Filipino interests in Southeast Asia and ..............

Iraq is fast descending into a huge crisis. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an off-shoot of Al Qaeda, has made quick progress in capturing..............

Conclusion of USD 400 billion gas deal between Russia and China and lifting of the arms embargo by Russia against Pakistan are two significant events ..............

Battles continue to rage across northern Iraq, pitting jihadi group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant against Iraqi security forces and their a..............

Three years ago when waves of protests and popular uprisings ousted despotic regimes in four countries of West Asia and North Africa, the Arab Spring ..............

Saudi Arabia's recent $1.5 billion grant to Pakistan re-affirms the depth of the relationship that the two countries share. It has also brought into f..............

Vietnam, India’s strategic partner in the east is facing the heat. Not that Vietnam has not seen much worse days, having fought years of war with th..............

Permeated by many turbulent events in May 2014, East Asia served as the milieu for events from the coup d'état in Thailand, to maritime cooperation f..............

Since President Rouhani's election, Iran has made considerable effort towards 'constructive engagement' with the Gulf Cooperation Council. Foreign Min..............

Foreign ministers from around the world gathered in Algiers on May 28-29 for the 17th Ministerial Conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries...............

Much before he took over as the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi hit the diplomatic ground with a master stroke. He invited all the heads of Sou..............

China-Vietnam relations have deteriorated sharply since the China National Offshore Oil Corporation towed an oil rig into waters 220 km off central Vi..............

The resounding gains made by the anti-EU parties in last week's European parliamentary elections have alerted Europe's mainstream leadership to its fu..............

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a successful trip to China that was marked by a range of major bilateral agreements. The most..............

The US President Barack Obama visited Saudi Arabia at the end of March for his first visit to the country since 2009 and met King Abdullah. The visit ..............

The ongoing nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 is now at a critical juncture as the fourth meeting began in Vienna on May 13. The three-day meetin..............

A Saudi minister's purported invitation to have his Iranian counterpart visit Saudi Arabia could be a sign that Riyadh is acknowledging the need to ta..............

As the Syrian strife rages into its fourth year, on 01 May 2014, barrel bombs delivered on an outdoor market in Aleppo by Syrian military aircraft kil..............

Since late 2011, the Obama administration has been repeatedly trumpeting a new strategy to sustain and strengthen the US’s interests in the Asia-Pacific.

The nuclear deal agreed between the six world powers and Iran to curb its nuclear programme that entered into force on January 20, 2014 is progressing well.

China is moving forward with unilateral energy exploration in the South China Sea and is using the placement of a deep-sea oil rig to assert its claim..............

The political turmoil in Ukraine has become a potential flashpoint for the world with the heightened tension reaching to the dangerous level among the..............

Despite the announcement of a power-sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah that would end the rift between the Palestinian faction that governs Gaz..............

The Joint Statement released by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif after the latest round of nuclear tal..............

The April 17 Geneva joint statement issued by Russia, US, Europe and Ukraine has outlined steps to de-escalate the prevailing tensions. These include ..............

The biggest impact of the U.S.-Iranian diplomatic engagement in the Middle East is on the struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Iran's international..............

There was hardly any good reason to expect any significant agreement to work together for de-escalation of the mounting tension by the four participan..............

On 19th April 2014 , two religiously motivated terrorists, one of them on a motorbike, blew himself up near a bakery factory in my small city Salamiy..............

After several hours of foreign minister-level negotiations among Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States in Geneva on April 17, Russ..............

There are indications of further substantive progress in P5 plus Germany’s negotiations with Iran in the latest round in Vienna. Iran has shown read..............

On 27 March, Bangladesh abstained from voting at the UN General Assembly resolution on Russia’s annexation of Crimea. While 100 countries voted in f..............

The crisis in relations between Russia, the successor to the extinct superpower USSR, and US, the declining superpower, with European Union playing th..............

Ukraine's dispute with Russia over energy prices has been intensifying, raising fears in Kiev that another natural gas cutoff is possible and prompting the Europeans to intervene.

Afghanistan and Iraq go for elections this month, while Syria plunges deeper into terror, killings and destruction.While the mandate of the UN Assista..............

It was the autumn of 1854 in Crimea. British, French, and Ottoman troops were in Crimea to battle Russia. The issue was over the question of who would..............

The Crimean referendum to join Russia and subsequent action by Kremlin incorporating it into Russian territory has raised several questions on issues ..............

The crisis in Ukraine, culminating in the Russian intervention in Crimea, has created a delicate dilemma for the foreign policy establishment in Japan..............

The Ukrainian political crisis, like the earlier crises in Egypt, Libya and Syria, is proving to be a nightmare for China, despite Beijing’s mainten..............

China plans to extend the Qinghai-Tibet railway to the southern Tibetan city of Xigaze, located less than 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the border w..............

The South-China Sea dispute is axiomatic of the brewing great power rivalry between the US and China, raising serious questions about the viability of..............

Recently announced plans to extend the Qinghai-Tibet railway to the southern Tibetan city of Xigaze, located less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from..............

The clash between the Philippines and China echoing since April 2012 over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea has seemingly been upped to the..............

The Ukrainian crisis has highlighted the duplicity of great powers — that sovereignty and humanitarian intervention are concepts to be used only whe..............

The announcement of a drawdown timeline for US troops from Afghanistan predictably garnered mixed reactions. However, most of the issues that brought ..............

Whenever Russia and the West fight, China’s geopolitical leverage goes up. This trend, which stood the test of time for more than a century, is now ..............

President Putin’s latest decision to pull back troops from Russia’s western border and his declaration to employ armed forces in Ukraine only as a..............

With a landmark Afghan presidential election fast approaching, soon to be followed by the Western military withdrawal from the country, Tehran has ste..............

The European Union is unlikely to approve substantial sanctions against Russia because it would go against the economic interests of most of its membe..............

A lot has been happening in North Korean domestic politics as well as its relations with South Korea in recent months. Some of these happenings appear..............

Kiev ordered a military mobilization and called up reservists nationwide March 2, a day after Russia's upper house of parliament approved Russian Pres..............

The situation is unfolding rapidly in Ukraine. Recent developments raise some fundamental questions. Can Ukraine remain united? Is Europe going to fac..............

Ukraine has a new functional government, but the various challenges facing the country present an immediate threat to its survival. Ukraine's parliame..............

The West wants to parlay the success of supporting Ukraine's anti-government protesters into a broader, region-wide campaign. In fact, the United Stat..............

Despite the news from Kiev at the time of writing - that the Ukrainian Parliament has dismissed embattled President Yanukovych and secured the release..............

Mr John Kerry has just completed his fifth trip to Asia as Secretary of State. He visited South Korea, Indonesia and China. The visit comes at a time ..............

By definition a war memorial is a building or monument to celebrate a war or victory or, as in present times, to remember those who died or were injur..............

With the US stepping up effort towards its Asian rebalancing strategy, three fundamental elements must be understood: Are the US strategic lenses now..............

December 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations. The commemorative summit hosted by Tokyo saw significant developments in ASEAN-Jap..............

If the rise in violence this month is any mark of the year that is to be, then we can conclude that 2014 will turn out be an ominous year for Afghans...............

BEIJING (AFP) - One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I, China and Japan are ripping selected pages from Germany's history -- including th..............

International diplomats will gather Jan. 22 in the Swiss town of Montreux to hammer out a settlement designed to end Syria's three-year civil war. The..............

Amidst fresh threat of sanctions from the US Congress, Iran's terms of rapprochement with the West, following the successful breakthrough in its nucle..............

The UN has convened an international conference on Syria to meet in Montreux, Switzerland, starting from January 22, 2014. Thirty odd states, includin..............

The International Contact Group (ICG) on Afghanistan and Pakistan are holding its first meeting in Munich in April 2009 with only eight countries as m..............

Though the spotlight on West Asia is understandably focused currently on the unquestionably exciting prospect of a welcome and desirable reconciliatio..............

Saudi Arabia will have to contain al Qaeda if it wants to successfully counter Iranian regional influence. Currently, Riyadh and the transnational jih..............

Beyond the special case of Israel, the area between the eastern Mediterranean and the Hindu Kush remains the current focus of U.S. policy. The United ..............

The wave of poplar protests called ‘Arab Spring’ started in Tunisia in December 2010 when the people protested against their ruler Ben Ali who the..............

In the New Year, all the countries of South Asia seem to be in a state of flux and are experiencing some form of political instability. And people are..............

TOKYO (AFP) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's inflammatory visit to a Tokyo war shrine demonstrates his determination to drag pacifist Japan to the right ..............

Geopolitics tells us that the narrower the time frame, the more significant individuals become. Impersonal forces may shape the broadest strokes of a ..............

As the US drawdown in Afghanistan approaches its culmination, Pakistan continues to extract all it can from its reluctant alliance in the War against ..............

Kurdish politics in the West Asia have taken on a renewed momentum. Kurdish dynamics have evolved largely against the backdrop of the US invasion of I..............

In response to the U.S.-Iranian rapprochement, Saudi Arabia is working on transforming the Gulf Cooperation Council into a much more robust supranatio..............

States adopt postures and pursue policies in response to the global situation. As the global situation evolves, so do the strategic choices of the sta..............

The memorial for Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, on Dec. 10 will feature the largest gathering of international dignitaries and heads of state..............

In recent years, Asia-Pacific region has caught global attention more for periodic political upheavals than for its economic dynamism. Most of the pol..............

For over a year, the East China Sea has been witness to waters that are more turbulent than its own. And from what it looks like, the political repart..............

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden returned from South Korea on Dec. 7, having also visited Japan and China during a week of diplomatic upkeep. Biden's tri..............

China’s recent establishment of the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the disputed island (Senkaku/Diaoyu) in the East China Sea has raise..............

The passing of Nelson Mandela provides a moment to reflect on the geopolitics of a continent in which the post-apartheid leader will always be revered..............

Washington (AFP) - The death of South Africa's liberation leader and first democratic president Nelson Mandela triggered an unprecedented worldwide ch..............

On the 23rd of November, China escalated its tensions with Japan significantly by declaring an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). While this zon..............

China and Japan have contesting claims over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea (ECS) with Tokyo currently controlling the islands after ..............

At long last, after three rounds of Geneva talks, the Iranian leadership has clinched a deal with the West on 24th November, claiming that it had come..............

The US-Iran secret parleys began some time in 2011. Initially, it was about agreeing to talk, where and who will meet. John Kerry as Chairman of the S..............

Many observers have overlooked some of the ancillary regional consequences of the U.S.-Iran deal. As the United States and Iran reached the agreement,..............

The interim nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 on 24 November 2013 was a definite breakthrough. It is the only nuclear deal to have been su..............

A deal between Iran and the P-5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) was reached Saturday night. The Iranians agre..............

What was unthinkable for many people over many years happened in the early hours of Nov. 24 in Geneva: The United States and the Islamic Republic of I..............

A historic agreement following touch-and-go negotiations on Iran's nuclear program was reached in Geneva on Nov. 23 between Tehran and the P-5+1 (the ..............

As the US prepares to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by July 2014, a growing realization in the West is that the situation in the region may ultim..............

More than 3,000 prominent Afghans gathered in Kabul Nov. 21 to hold council at Afghanistan's Loya Jirga, or grand assembly. Afghan President Hamid Kar..............

The 18th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held its much-anticipated Third Plenum from November 11 to November 15, 2013. It was billed as ..............

The West has finally woken up to something that strategic analysts in India have been saying for decades: Saudi Arabia funded the Pakistani nuclear pr..............

The recently concluded (7th to 9th November) nuclear negotiations of Iran with the P5+1, in Geneva, have again failed to produce any agreement of sort..............

The talks between Iran and the Western powers have ended but have not failed. They will reconvene next week. That in itself is a dramatic change from ..............

France's apparently hard-line stance in the nuclear negotiations with Iran is not indicative of a break from the U.S. position. France stands to gain ..............

Marathon talks over Iran's nuclear program failed to reach a deal despite a mood of progress in Geneva on Nov. 9, setting the stage for another parley in 10 days.

Whether or not Saudi Arabia is capable of deploying a nuclear arsenal with Pakistan's help, there are political and diplomatic factors preventing the ..............

Washington and Tehran may soon reach a historic agreement over Iran's controversial nuclear program. As talks in Geneva move into their third day, bot..............

Despite a good deal of skepticism, there are a number of reasons for taking this iteration of the U.S.-Iranian negotiation seriously. The foundation f..............

By opting for negotiations with the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran has exhibited unprecedented behavioral changes. The extent to which Ir..............

There is great buzz in the international community with respect to the recent developments to resume diplomatic relations between the great powers and..............

The election of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League/Nawaz (PML/N) party offers the U.S. an opportunity to forge a mor..............

Thursday was a bad day for Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif was getting ready to return home from a trip to the United States, during whi..............

Syria has reached a stalemate between President Bashar Assad and his political opponents – the Syrian National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutio..............

The divergence in U.S. and Saudi interests that began with the events of 9/11 has reached a critical stage with the launching of the U.S.-Iranian dipl..............

The United States and Romania appear to be on the brink of securing a key transit agreement as the United States draws down military operations in Afghanistan.

On 27 September 2013, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted unanimously a resolution which would eliminate chemical weapons in Syria. The..............

Monday coincided the beginning of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage that brings some 2 million Muslims from around the world to the Saudi city of Mecca...............

With President Barack Obama cancelling his recent four-nation Asian tour owing to the political standoff over the US budget that led to a shutdown of ..............

Afghanistan's 2014 presidential election may be the most critical event the country will have experienced since the United States toppled the Taliban ..............

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on 27 August had made his 20th visit to Pakistan and the first since the election of Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister,..............

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani received a fresh vote of confidence in Iran's parliament on Oct. 2, when 230 out of 290 lawmakers signed a statement ..............

U.S. President Barack Obama called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani last week in the first such conversation in the 34 years since the establishment o..............

US President Barrack Obama's historic phone-call to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on 27 September, coming as it does after over three-decades of fr..............

The military intervention in Egypt which overthrew Muhammad Morsi has impacted regional politics in West Asia. The victory of the Muslim Brotherhood i..............

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's article in the Washington Post on 19th September, followed by the respective speeches of Presidents Obama and Rouha..............

Contrary to popular perception, Central Asia is not likely to see an immediate explosion of violence and militancy after the U.S. and NATO drawdown fr..............

The one undisputed fact about the international tussle around Syria is the re-emergence of Russia as a major international player. The Russian proposa..............

An apparent U.S. decision to try to end nearly 35 years of unremitting hostility with Iran represents a major geopolitical shift.

The sudden and unexpected twist to the Syrian chemical weapons (CW) controversy that ended "not with a bang but a whimper" could really hurt the rebel..............

In 1979, shortly after the revolution that established the current Iranian regime, Tehran broke off relations with the United States. Nearly 35 years ..............

The ongoing struggle of people across the Arab world to get rid of military dictators and tyrannical monarchies has led to a new debate about the effi..............

While the world is relieved that an American attack on Syria has been temporarily averted, the CIA has not wasted too much time in sending its lethal ..............

The president tried to articulate how an unanswered chemical weapons attack would impact U.S. national security, and he shed a bit more light on the i..............

The debate on Syria, in the Western media, is already narrowing down to the timing and modality of bombing as to whether it should be a 'limited, surg..............

Even as much has been written about the regional and global actors pursuing their pitiless agendas in Syria, one sub-plot in the vicious drama has rem..............

As the debate continues over whether the United States will intervene in Syria, many observers have overlooked what Turkey and Saudi Arabia -- Washing..............

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the 8th G-20 summit a distinctly worried man. With India in the throes of an economic crisis, directly under hi..............

President Obama recently speaking from the White House said that Syria’s actions represented a “challenge to the world” as also to American nati..............

The three largest economies in the European Union -- Germany, France and the United Kingdom -- are either buying time to decide whether to participate..............

The reported chemical weapons strike in the Eastern suburbs of Damascus in Syria on 21 August which killed up to 1300 people has taken the current Syr..............

The Indian government, badly buffeted by an economic slowdown, is extremely concerned at the imminent possibility of a military conflagration in West Asia.

With the fresh (yet to be proven) charge of use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, the British and the French governments, the same old drum-bea..............

Jihadist forces dominating the rebel landscape in Syria are in a quandary about impending U.S. airstrikes in Syria. While they cannot be seen as suppo..............

The Iraq captivity keeps on haunting me from time to time, especially the time when I was supposed to be handed over to “Chemical Ali”(Ali Hasan ..............

China and Japan are positioning themselves to take advantage of the opening of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Presently, the Chinese shipping company C..............

The visit of India’s Defence Minister, Shri AK Antony’s to China in the first week of July saw the host nation vitiate the atmospherics through un..............

Whenever the Chinese propaganda machinery emphasizes all is well, problems burst out despite their best efforts to hide them. The world remained uninf..............

The impending departure of Afghan President Hamid Karzai poses the following critical challenge to the United States: Broker a political power-sharing..............

When I interviewed Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1997 it was at a very odd time : 1:30 am, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, during his visit to India.

When Dr. Hassan Rouhani takes charge as the new President of the Iranian republic on 4th August 2013, there are two most important challenges before h..............

As the United States continues to debate whether it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan entirely after 2014 -- dubbed by Washington as the "zero..............

Eleven years ago today, a Hamas cell based in East Jerusalem claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Frank Sinatra Cafe at Hebrew University in ..............

The biggest question in international affairs has nothing to do with Syria or Iran going nuclear. It is has to do with the state of the Chinese econom..............

The situation at the moment, given President Hamid Karzai’s political calisthenics, Pakistan’s new approach to worm into Afghanistan, the Taliban�..............

As the Egyptian military marshals its forces against Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, the situation for Hamas in the Gaza Strip is becoming ..............

Georgia's presidential election in October will take place during a time of profound domestic and foreign policy changes. Such changes are but the lat..............

The interests of Turkey and Iran, otherwise geopolitical competitors, seem to converge on the recent ouster of former Egyptian President Mohammed Mors..............

The seemingly unceasing conflict in Syria which has resulted in a devastating civil war is being closely watched by China as it appears keen on taking..............

The annual gatherings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - at the ministerial level in July and summit level in November at the East Asia S..............

China's growing economic activity and diplomatic involvement in Central America show Beijing strengthening its ties with the region, despite the Unite..............

As civil unrest in the Arab world moves toward violent conflict, the fate of the region's monarchies remains a pressing question. The Arab monarchies ..............

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, in a ceremony held at the new National Defense University built to train Afghanistan's future military officers, a..............

China's state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) completed construction of a natural gas pipeline from Myanmar to China on 28 May 2013 an..............

The much-touted, first-ever public negotiations between the United States and the Afghan Taliban, which were scheduled to commence June 20, hit a snag..............

Nations have played great games of control and dominance with each other from times immemorial. From the 19th Century to today, the Eurasian land mass..............

Iranians went to the polls Friday to elect outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's successor. Candidates reported few serious problems with the proce..............

The election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as the next president of Iran will help maintain domestic stability amid the country's continued econom..............

Cyprus is the latest episode in the European economic crisis which has seen bailouts of a country’s struggling economy become more of a norm rather ..............

Iran goes to polls on 14 June to elect its 11th President. The process and the selection of candidates have created considerable controversies in stea..............

As the Islamic Republic of Iran holds its eleventh presidential election on June 14, most observers see the country as moving toward greater hardline ..............

Iran has reached out to the Taliban in a bid to compete more effectively with Saudi Arabia in Afghanistan and to pressure the United States. The move ..............

After months of bellicose war rhetoric, nuclear and missile tests, there seemed to be a change of heart in Pyongyang, marking a significant thaw of th..............

In a historical first, an elected civilian government in Pakistan surprisingly survived its full term of five years – even though its record was uni..............

For the last two weeks, especially after the elections are over, there have been increased discussions within Pakistan, on talking to the Taliban. Whi..............

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese held vigils in Hong Kong, Taipei, Washington and elsewhere Tuesday as part of an annual commemoration of the bloody c..............

Having completed visits to Trinidad and Tobago and to Costa Rica, Chinese President Xi Jinping will head to Mexico for his second meeting with Preside..............

Bhutan has had many rounds of talks regarding border dispute, but never a high level interaction with the Chinese government. The recent meetings betw..............

Oman, like Poland and Azerbaijan are good examples of countries that are not covered by the media but are countries that are geopolitically important...............

The new government in Pakistan will have to take some hard decisions on difficult issues pertaining to foreign policy, even though the choices will be..............

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday for the first time that he will step down as president of his country next year. Speaking to reporters in..............

Recent developments show that the Tajik-Afghan border will be increasingly important for political and security reasons as U.S. and NATO forces draw d..............

U.S. President Barack Obama hosted Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, at the White House on Monday, the latest sign of a budding relationship between tw..............

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a number of critical issu..............

Though there has been a plethora of books and commentaries on Pakistan, despite its strategic importance to India, Iran has never received the attenti..............

Recent Russian military shows of force in the Baltic region have aggravated the ongoing debate in Sweden over its military capability and just how muc..............

Heavy fighting was reported Wednesday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces along the northern end of the border between the two southwest Asia..............

That threats and counter threats emanate frequently across the DMZ on the Korean peninsula is nothing new, only the intensity varies. Often it seems t..............

Over the last three months, Bangladesh has plunged into a strife ridden situation where politics is being pushed by extreme religious ideas. Some fore..............

North Korea's release of its preconditions for talks on defusing tensions on the peninsula is perhaps the best indication yet of the manufactured natu..............

It has barely been a month since the 12th National People’s Congress ended, with new appointees to various ministries and committees in the State Co..............

China appears to be growing frustrated with North Korea's behavior, perhaps to the point of changing its long-standing support for Pyongyang. As North..............

North Korea appears to be yet again on a war path with repeated provocations and increasing rhetoric for the past few months. It has also been a year ..............

On 12th February 2013 North Korea tested its third nuclear bomb since 2006 and then threatened to nuke the US. Further, it has abrogated the armistice..............

Pakistan has been simultaneously grappling with a complex political transition and a domestic Taliban insurgency for many years. Now, Islamabad is und..............

It is not unusual to find the situation on the Korean peninsula turning suddenly grave with fears of an armed conflict breaking out along the 38th par..............

North Korea's state-run media reported Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the country's top security officials to take "substanti..............

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died Monday. The Iron Lady's leadership at a critical juncture in the latter phase of the Cold War tes..............

North Korea's decision to move some of its medium- and long-range ballistic missile systems corresponds with the country's strategy of shaping and dom..............

This is the third piece in a three-part series on the geopolitical implications of China's move to transform the Yangtze River into a major internal e..............

This is the second piece in a three-part series on the geopolitical implications of China's move to transform the Yangtze River into a major internal ..............

This is the first piece in a three-part series on the geopolitical implications of China's move to transform the Yangtze River into a major internal e..............

Revelations that China quietly transferred control of an island in the South China Sea to Vietnam more than half a century ago could signal that Beiji..............

For the second time in 2013, China has voted in favour of a UN Security Council Resolution on North Korea (DPRK) that came hot on the heels of Pyongya..............

Chinese President Xi Jinping is in South Africa March 26 as part of a three-country tour of the continent. Xi will represent China at the two-day summ..............

Chinese President Xi Jinping's first official overseas visit has taken him to Russia, Tanzania, the Republic of Congo and South Africa. First visits b..............

A ‘pearl’ could be viewed as a sphere of influence seeded, secured and maintained through the use of economic, geopolitical, diplomatic or militar..............

In May 2013, China will be linked directly to the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean by virtue of a gas pipeline running from Kyaukpyu port in Myanmar ..............

Speaking at the London Institute of Petroleum in 1999, the soon to be Vice-President of the United States Dick Cheney made the following assertion.

The fundamental reason for this instability is Kyrgyzstan's geography. The country is nearly entirely mountainous, which has caused political division..............

The mountains of Afghanistan are known as one of the most hazardous terrains for military operations. This topography has long allowed Afghans to succ..............

In the two years since the earthquake and tsunami that resulted in core reactor meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant, public opinion h..............

While the political infighting and violence that have afflicted Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 are by no means over, the Shia-dominated gove..............

The reverberations of North Korea’s third and latest nuclear test conducted on 12 February 2013 can be felt across Northeast Asia, tending to sugges..............

North Korea has threatened to annul the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War if the United States and South Korea do not cease joint mil..............

The fact that a civilian government in Pakistan is completing a full five-year tenure is a hopeful sign. There is another fact, which is worrying. Arm..............

A reported U.S. offer to roll back sanctions against Iran suggests a shift in the talks surrounding Tehran's nuclear program. For almost 10 years, the..............

As Russia prepares for Chinese President Xi Jinping's first official visit, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Monday that Beijing and Mosco..............

Just as Herodotus is the father of history, Thucydides is the father of realism. To understand the geopolitical conflict zones of the 21st century, yo..............

France’s military intervention in Mali to disrupt and defeat al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has generated observable positive consequences, both fo..............

As the conflict over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands intensifies between Japan and China, there is a considerable section within China which appears to be ..............

Myanmar's isolation in recent decades led China to shift from multilateral engagement with various political players to engaging primarily with the mi..............

North Korea conducted a nuclear test for the third time on February 12, sparking criticism from the region and beyond. According to Asahi Shimbun, the..............

BEIJING (AFP) - North Korea's third nuclear test presents China under its new leader Xi Jinping with an unwelcome choice -- confront its defiant ally ..............

The Chinese authorities, that is the Communist Party of China (CPC), must realistically admit that its minorities especially the Tibetans, Uighurs and..............

Europe's economic woes are getting worse, so it comes as no surprise that independence movements across the Continent are flaring as central state aut..............

North Korea's latest nuclear test has sparked another round of discussions in China regarding the viability of its North Korean policy. China has long..............

BEIJING (AFP) - China is unlikely to punish troublesome ally North Korea harshly for Tuesday's nuclear test, analysts say, even though Chinese state m..............

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday rejected U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's Feb. 2 offer of direct talks. Khamenei's move was p..............

North Korea has apparently carried out another nuclear test Feb. 12, days after suggesting the West was mistaken that such an event would occur soon. ..............

As U.S. President Barack Obama's second-term foreign policy team begins to take shape, Iran remains unfinished business for the U.S. administration. T..............

Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia accident. The U.S. government shut down the shuttle program in 2011; despite this fact..............

If the West is disillusioned by the Arab Spring, what may eventually happen in Central Asia is beyond its worst imaginings. The Middle East, for all i..............

After over a decade of conflict, the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is still engaged in a war on terror in Afghanistan. While t..............

Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's warning Tuesday that the Egyptian government could collapse under the pressure of ongoing violen..............

The former country of Yugoslavia is part of the European borderland contested by Western Europe, Turkey and Russia. Moscow is using energy projects an..............

This week is the second anniversary of the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, an event that in many ways turned unrest in Tu..............

With a number of Arab states busy dealing with political unrest at home and Iran now assuming a more defensive role in the region, Turkey and Qatar ar..............

The first-ever publicized meetings between representatives of the Taliban and their nemesis, the former Northern Alliance, beginning Wednesday in Pari..............

Fifteen years after its first attempt to launch a satellite mounted on an indigenous rocket, North Korea's successful launch of the Unha-3 satellite l..............

Many U.S. presidents begin their term in office vowing to pay more attention to Latin America and then fail to do so. Indeed, the first summit of a pr..............

The tiny country of Eritrea has been accommodating two Middle Eastern rivals in order to face its geopolitical challenges -- mainly its fear of invasi..............

On December 26, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new military doctrine. This is the fourth such declaration on national security follo..............

Saudi Arabia led a 10-member coalition in launching airstrikes against al-Houthi targets in Yemen on March 25. It remains unclear which countries are ..............

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought India’s participation in the Geneva II dialogue process scheduled to be held in November, a senior offic..............

Why have our Line of Control (LoC) and the international border in J&K has suddenly become violent? After ceasing fire for almost a decade, what has s..............

With Indian general elections some six months away Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s China visit (Oct. 22-24) is seen as his last in his capacity ..............

The serving Bangladesh Army Colonel and one of his former bosses, a retired Major General, hold a common view—the rise of Hifazat-e-Islam, the new r..............

The Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing and dialogues with Chinese leadership indicated a sense of optimism for the future of bilateral relations. Som..............

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 3-day (Oct 21-23, 2013) tour to Beijing marked the first time in sixty years that the Indian and Chinese Prim..............

Prior to PM Manmohan Singh’s departure it was mentioned by official sources that his visit to China was rather unique; for after Nehru’s visit in ..............

Since the beginning of 2013, the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir has come under severe strain. Although incidents of ce..............

As the United States and its NATO allies continue their military drawdown from Afghanistan, there is a great deal of concern about what will become of..............

It is rather surprising that the Pakistan army has opted to raise the ante along the LoC and the international boundary in Jammu and Kashmir at a time..............

It is for the first time in living memory that an Indian prime minister will visit Russia and China during the same trip, beginning 21 October. The pr..............

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will embark on a crucial trip to Russia from this Sunday, October 20. During the visit, a number of pacts are expected t..............

China has agreed to provide Pakistan two new civil nuclear reactors, even though the U.S. and other countries have told the Chinese that the sale woul..............

The Chinese decision to give stapled visas and not stamped visas to two Indian archers from Arunachal Pradesh should not be surprising. The two teena..............

Recent news reports suggest that the US has identified a list of 10 defence technologies for transfer to India. The government is reported to be “re..............

Attempts to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir intensify usually in the autumn, marking, to some extent, the desperation to keep the strength of hardco..............

In its continuing attempt to reverse the trend of deepening peace in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Islamabad has, since the beginning o..............

With INS Sahyadri – India’s modern stealth frigate – participation in the just concluded International Fleet Review (IFR) in Sydney, there has b..............

In the post cold war period, the Central Asian countries have engaged themselves in nation building and consolidation of their statehoods. The pessimi..............

The question which India does America want is intriguing for there are no two India’s but then does America want a strong India or a weak one – th..............

In 2009, the installation of the Awami League government in Bangladesh and the Congress party in India created a congenial ambience to build a stronger bilateral architecture.

After relatively slow and quiet election campaigns, the German federal elections brought surprising results. First, the FDP, the liberal party, lost a..............

The cacophony of Pakistani religious radicalism seems to be heading for a crescendo. The country is being torn apart between the contending power cent..............

Long before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly a vigorous debate had started in I..............

Media heat is yet to start over Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s visit to China in late October. A prime ministerial visit cannot rest on ..............

Setting aside the domestic battering his image has taken in recent months, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been in his element on US soil, talking t..............

Almost four months have passed since the Manmohan Singh -Shinzo Abe joint statement was issued following their summit meeting held in Tokyo in May, 20..............

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Washington aiming to reclaim and restore what he can of a prime ministerial legacy he had hoped would emulate hi..............

Since the beginning of September this year, the city of Zamboanga, Philippines is witnessing clashes between militant groups and the Filipino National..............

The security situation in Afghanistan is fragile not due to the weakness or inabilities of the valiant Afghan Security forces, but due to the continue..............

Incursions from China continue despite protests and meetings by India. It is reported that on 20 August 2013, there were intrusions by China in the Wa..............

Few weeks earlier, the Indian media and the rest of nation was obsessed with what was happening along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. What..............

Several political, security, economic and socio-cultural factors are at play making Asia Pacific a highly dynamic region. India needs to have a long t..............

Like many other countries - or perhaps more than other countries - India’s policy elite is transfixed by China’s rise and evolution in the interna..............

If acted on, a statement by Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga that Japan could station public officials on the disputed islands known as..............

With the drawdown of allied Forces inching closer, the Afghan Taliban and its affiliates in their pursuit of the enforcement of a brutal extremist Isl..............

The situation in Afghanistan is full of uncertainties and the prospects of India’s neighbourhood becoming even more difficult for us are real. We ha..............

Uncertainties are growing among the Tibetan exile community, characterized by persisting internal divisions and a lack of clarity in its political dem..............

Yet another joint military exercise between China and India! What for? Given the recent tensions following the PLA’s border incursion, not many woul..............

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says food worth Rupees 44,000 crores was wasted last year for lack of storage space in India including vegetables an..............

After defeating the Tamil Tigers in 2009, the central Sri Lankan government gained control of the entire island for the first time in decades. Colombo..............

The enthusiasm that governed the bilateral relationship between Delhi and Dhaka for the past few years is fast eroding in the face of India's delay in..............

Suddenly there is an offensive against India by Pakistan’s military – both on its eastern and western fronts. If the suicide attack on the Indian ..............

The decision by the Trinamool Congress in India's West Bengal state to block a parliamentary discussion on settling India's long-standing border dispu..............

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AFP) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday charged former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with the 2007 murder of opposition leader Ben..............

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is popularly known as Bangabandhu or Friend of Bengal. He became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1972. He was a close friend..............

Indo–Pakistani skirmishing along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir has escalated in the past 10 days and threatens to destroy a decade-..............

More than anything else, the latest flare-up along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has exposed the absence of any sort of strategic clarity a..............

There is a growing thinking in the West that the rivalry between India-Pakistan, the two nuclear armed neighbours, is the root cause for the current i..............

During the first half of 2013, there was no forward movement on the peace process front in Sri Lanka. Instead, some of the measures taken by the Sri L..............

In the early hours of August 6, 2013, personnel of Pakistan Army’s Border Action Team (BAT) along with a group of 20 heavily armed terrorists entere..............

The much hyped multibillion dollar pipeline connecting Shwe Gas fields at the Irrawaddy Delta to China’s Yunnan province was formally inaugurated on..............

Five Indian soldiers were killed early Tuesday in Jammu & Kashmir, in the Poonch sector just within the Indian side of the Line of Control between Ind..............

India has some two thousand years of association with Southeast Asia. Its Hindu influence touched all parts of Southeast Asia except few pockets of No..............

In a suicide attack intended to target the Indian Consulate at Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan, nine Afghans, includin..............

Domestic political opposition and security concerns in Myanmar could threaten an energy pipeline built in the country by China, its longtime patron. B..............

The much awaited strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistan has now resumed after the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry. Resuming the dial..............

In the background of America's much-discussed pivot to Asia, there have been talks about a Russian "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific. Crucial developments o..............

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington will improve after Iran's new president assumes office Aug. 4, ending months of speculation over wh..............

China and India continue to vie for maritime influence, as influence over the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) remains both commercially and strategically ad..............

Indo-Iranian relations have been one of the toughest ones to manage for the Indian political elite, especially when viewed in the wake of the newfound..............

The Pakistani Army has just completed its summer war games, Azm Nau IV. The press release has it that with the Azm-e-Nau series of exercises held sinc..............

The Chinese Communist leadership has perfected the art of saying things and giving signals leaving it to the other side to decipher and understand. T..............

Except few stints, one of which being Vietnam supporting its ideological partner China during the Indo-China war of 1962, the India-Vietnam relationsh..............

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Ms. Dipu Moni will be in New Delhi on July 25, 2013 on a three day visit. It is expected to be a preparatory one paving th..............

Absent a comprehensive negotiated settlement, India and China will continue their efforts to bolster their strategic military positions on the border ..............

Of the two Brits in India, Mark Tully is hard to dislike and William Dalrymple sometimes difficult to agree with. It isn’t as if Tully hasn’t bee..............

There is a growing view amongst certain analysts that India’s reluctance to provide military (lethal) aid to Afghanistan particularly after the rece..............

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quick to offer congratulations and “unflinching” support to the head of the victorious People’s Democra..............

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Anthony’s China visit (July 04-07) was dressed up as successful by both sides. A joint statement issued in Beijing by A..............

India and China recently held the 16th round of their Special Representatives' talks on the boundary question on 28-29th June. The talks, which began ..............

The Obama Administration is considering leaving no U.S. troops behind in Afghanistan after it ends its combat mission there in 2014. This would underm..............

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been facing the challenge of growing unemployment for some time1 . Its economy is dependant, to a large extent,on the presence of expatriates 2.

Maritime cooperation is one of the important aspects of the India-ASEAN strategic partnership. The ongoing territorial disputes among some of the ASEA..............

Why are we getting so worked up about utterings by Comrade Luo Yuan working ‘under’ the Director General of the world military research departme..............

In her recent visit to China, South Korean President Park Geun-hyu emphasised the pivotal role of China in determining the security and economic archi..............

It took a gutsy lady like Ayesha Siddiqa to pen down what has been known for many years now – that the ISI has successfully infiltrated foreign thin..............

While talking about Africa’s engagement with the outside world, some commentaries in newspapers refer to India as a newcomer to the continent. Nothi..............

During the Fourth Eelam War, in order to ensure India’s support to the ongoing military operations, President Mahinda Rajapaksa used to assure New D..............

From 19 to 21 June 2013, Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang paid his first-ever three-day state visit to China, amid rising tensions between the tw..............

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to India beginning Sunday is his first since he assumed his current post from Hillary Clinton in February t..............

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s current visit to India will set the tone for cooperation between the two countries over the next few years, esp..............

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai was in India for a three day visit from 20th May. He held discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding ..............

On the last leg of his four nation tour, Xi Jinping visited the US on 7-8 June 2013. The visit is important as it comes just three months after his as..............

John Kerry arrives in New Delhi on Sunday (June 23) for the fourth round of the Indo-US Annual Strategic Dialogue, starting on Monday. This is his mai..............

When the new Chinese leader Xi Jinping set out to meet President Obama in California, the task and the objectives that he set for himself were relativ..............

Every time there is a prime ministerial visit to East or Southeast Asia, we dust up the two-decade-old placards and begin to wave them. The fading let..............

As the United States reduces its military presence in Afghanistan and transfers security control to the Afghan government in 2014, the governments in ..............

As expected, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Japan culminated in an India-Japan joint statement on May 29, 2013. Though several occa..............

India needs to carefully monitor China’s “New age diplomacy”, a new slogan, being energetically pushed by the sixth generation leadership of Pre..............

If we listen to people intimately associated with the subject, academics, political scientists' et al, we get the impression that India be very afraid..............

Nawaz Sharif has assumed office as the Prime Minister of Pakistan after a historic election, with the army sitting back and watching the electoral pro..............

During his visit to India, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made the right noises and said what Indians wanted to hear including reference to PanchSheel and..............

The year 2013 is witnessing a flurry of diplomatic activities with heads of state, defence, and foreign ministers, as well as defence officials making..............

Amid the incursion of 19.5 km in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector of the Depsang Valley in Ladakh by the PLA; Indian Foreign Minister; Salman Khurshid visit..............

Addressing the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi recently Amb. Prasad Kariawasam, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, stated that Sri Lan..............

Despite aggressive attempts by the western world to squeeze Iran hard and distance its oil and gas fields from commercial markets, Iran still maintain..............

The conclusion of the 8th meeting of Russia-Pakistan Consultative Group on Strategic Stability, held in Islamabad in April 2013, marks the culmination..............

It is said that the new Chinese PM Li Keqiang is a very personable, polite and a charming interlocutor; almost the shades of his illustrious predecess..............

Li Keqiang’s visit to India raises a pertinent question whether his visit suggests a change in China’s strategy towards India or it is a mere cont..............

The India-Japan partnership has never been more important to our two countries than it is today. It is rich with possibilities. A stronger commercial ..............