Security and Counter Terrorism

Far from being the astounding success that India's jingoistic media is portraying it as, last week's SCO Summit in Astana was a resounding disaster for Prime Minister Modi's plans. India's policies of using Afghan-based terrorism against Pakistan, attempting to "isolate" Islamabad from the Afghan peace process, and declining to participate in China's One Belt One Road global vision of...

Turkey is an interesting state with some very complicated yet, important tilts and policies. The internal politics of the state are no doubt intricate, particularly in a post-Referendum scenario. Moreover, the state has a very core strategic location and its neighborhood is one with considerable volatility—be it Middle Eastern states or otherwise. In this background, the externalities regarding Turkey...

Since, the assumption of presidential office, U.S. President Donald Trump chose Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as his first destination abroad and inaugurated the unprecedented US-Arab-Islamic summit on May 21, 2017. The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) has become a new reality in the fast-changing Middle Eastern security dynamics and KSA feels emboldened by the support of USA in its regional...

Most observers were utterly shocked when the details emerged earlier this week that President Putin had discussed “safe zones” (now being rebranded as “de-escalation” zones) with not only President Trump, but even President Erdogan, and were especially surprised when the Russian leader defended this idea on the grounds that it “can really help to move along the long-standing problem...

Since decades, North Korean Nuclear program has been under the critical eye of the globe. Despite various international efforts to shut down North Korea’s nuclear program under the guidelines of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the global powers have been unable to achieve an effective result. North Korea’s official withdrawal from NPT, further signaled the emerging threat the international system...

Trump dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat against Daesh in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Province, and the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed the "Mother Of All Bombs", sent the clear signal to Russia, China, and Iran to "Move Over, America's Back" in Eurasia. The bomb itself has comparatively little utility against Daesh aside from supposedly being...

Perhaps! The history repeats itself, with the same accusations of using chemical weapons Bush administration in 2003 run over Iraq and toppled Saddam regime. President Trump followed the similar footsteps, amid Idlib chemical weapon accusations; this time without waiting fact-finding reports; since the US launched around 59 Tomahawk Missiles attacking the Syrian air-base—it seems like even in this case,...

The Kremlin’s appointment of Zamir Kabulov as presidential envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and head of the Russian foreign ministry’s Asia and Middle East department also signals a strategic rethink about how Moscow views the Pakistan-Afghanistan beltway. With this Moscow looking to create new road-maps for reconciliation, it will also be important to ensure that the political dysfunctions of...

Asia- Oceania region witnessing enormous weapon accumulation in past 10 years, with 46 per cent of the global arms imports only in last five years. Despite developing economies and lowering trade volume, arms race leads the region to a dangerous situation, where bilateral and multilateral disputes adding fuel to fire. As per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data the...

Palmyra was just re-liberated for the second time after a hard-fought battle for this strategic city, while in the same week, the leader of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq visited Turkey to plot the “Rojava Civil War”. Each of these events will directly impact on the disjointed efforts that are underway to liberate Raqqa from Daesh, as...