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Archives: South Asia

Is al-Zawahiri’s oath to Taliba a sign al-Qaeda is finished? Will ISIL step In?

Is al-Zawahiri’s oath to Taliban a sign al-Qaeda is finished? Will ISIL step In?

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/ RL ) - - After almost a year of silence, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has released an audio message swearing bay'ah -- an oath of allegiance…

US Right needs to get over Self: Iran Deal is International

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - - UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The single biggest misunderstanding about the nuclear agreement with Iran is that it is a bilateral deal with…

Afghanistan: The First Rule of Counter-Insurgency is that it Doesn’t Ever Work

By William R. Polk | (Informed Comment) | - - The people of Afghanistan at least since the time of Alexander the Great had repeatedly and violently demonstrated their determination not to…

Pushtun Female Commandos Ready to Take on the Taliban

By Ashfaq Yusufzai | (Inter Press Service) | - - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) - For years, Robina Shah has dreamed of joining the police force. Ever since her father, a police constable,…

Climate Change-Driven Drought in Karachi hits Poor Hardest

By Zofeen Ebrahim | {Inter Press Service) | - - KARACHI (IPS) - Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with…

As 700 Die in Pakistan from Extreme Heat, Pakistanis Deny Climate Change

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Pakistan is in the midst of an extreme heat wave with highs around 110 degrees F., which has killed 700 persons in the…

By the Time Washington wakes up to China’s Eurasian Strategy will it be too Late?

By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - For even the greatest of empires, geography is often destiny. You wouldn’t know it in Washington, though. America’s political, national security, and foreign…

Why Obama is bucking Saudis, Israel on Iran: Deal would much Strengthen US Security

By Brian M Downing | (Informed Comment) | - The dialog between the US and Iran moves ahead, albeit haltingly. Opposition comes from important groups in both Tehran and Washington – as…

Over 40 Ismaili Shiites shot down by Sunni Extremists in Pakistan

BBC | - "Dozens of people are thought to have died after an attack by gunmen on a bus in Karachi. They surrounded the bus, which was carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims, and…

Farkhunda is Our Sister: A “Martyr” to women and the Making of a New Afghanistan?

By Ann Jones | (Tomdispatch.com) | -- I went to Kabul, Afghanistan, in March to see old friends. By chance, I arrived the day after a woman had been beaten to death…

Afghanistan’s Endless War: Between the US, Taliban and ISIL

By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | - War is largely a seasonal activity in Afghanistan. Winters are harsh and fighters need to work fields and tend herds. With spring, another…

Pakistan – Court jails 10 for life over attack on Malala and on Women’s Education

France24 English | - An anti-terror court in Pakistan has sentenced 10 men for their roles in the 2012 attack on Malala Yousafzai. France24 English: "PAKISTAN - Court jails 10 for life…

The China-Pakistan trade corridor and its implications for regional security

By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) | - China and Pakistan announced, with considerable fanfare in Islamabad, a $46 billion dollar investment program to build a transportation corridor from the western…

The Middle East Policy of President Bernie Sanders

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - Bernie Sanders opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation of that country. Sanders wanted to get out of Afghanistan from 2011 much…

Nepal shows its vulnerability after devastating earthquake

By Simon Redfern | (The Conversation) | - For some time scientists have realised that the Kathmandu valley is one of the most dangerous places in the world, in terms of earthquake…

The Moment the Nepal earthquake hit

BBC News | - "Video shows the moment earthquake hit Nepal... a powerful earthquake that struck Nepal, wrecking many historic buildings. The quake measured 7.9 and struck an area between the capital…

US admits it has no Idea who it is Assassinating by Drone

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - The tragic deaths last January, just now being revealed, of two Western hostages in drone strikes on a relatively empty housing complex in northern Pakistan…

Pakistan as Hong Kong West: China’s New Silk Road & US Failure

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit, full of pomp and circumstance, to Pakistan on Monday, but its centerpiece was a $46 billion investment…

Afghanistan’s China Card

By Dilip Hiro | (Tomdispatch.com) - Call it an irony, if you will, but as the Obama administration struggles to slow down or halt its scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan, newly elected Afghan President Ashraf…

Lynching Farkhunda: Birth of Gender Equality and Accountability in Afghanistan?

By Solaiman M Fazel | (Informed Comment) The brutal murder of a 27 year old Afghan female student, Farkhunda, at the hands of an angry mob in front of the Shah-e Do-Shamshira…