Foreign Policy The longest war in American history is now officially over. At 11.59 pm local time on August 30, the last American C-17 took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, carrying the last load of U.S. troops. While it is very hard to reconcile leaving Afghanistan — and for many people, this More »
Pakistan
Mullah Fazlullah, Leader of Pakistan Taliban Killed in Airstrike
A U.S.-Afghan airstrike has killed the Taliban leader in Pakistan. A senior Afghan Defense Ministry official said on Friday, that Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah was killed in the air attack. The U.S. military said in Washington on Thursday it had carried out a strike aimed at a senior militant figure in the eastern More »
Pakistan Building Fence Along Border with Afghanistan
In order to slow the flow of terrorists from Afghanistan, Pakistan has begun a project to construct border fences along their porous 1500-mile border with Afghanistan. The project is slated to cost $483 million and the military is hoping it will help in dismantling militant networks in the largely lawless North and South Waziristan regions. More »
Russia Says IS Making Afghanistan “Resting Place” For Terrorism
Russia’s Ambassador to Pakistan had strong words against the rise of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, stating that the terror group is turning northern Afghanistan into a “resting base” of international terrorism and a “bridgehead” for establishing its destructive caliphate in the region. The “international wing of Daesh” is spearheading the effort of terrorists spilling More »
Pakistan Seeing “Increasing Footprint” of Islamic State
Pakistan is facing new challenges in the decades-long battle against terrorism and religious extremism within its borders as a new reports document what is characterized as an “alarming increase” of the Islamic State footprint. This report cannot come at a worse time for the Pakistani government. They are already smarting from statements by President Donald More »
Trump Withholding US Aid to Pakistan, citing “Lies and Deceit”
Never one to mince words, especially on Twitter, President Trump will, according to The White House, that the U.S. will continue to withhold $255 million in military aid to Pakistan out of frustration over what it has characterized as Islamabad’s reluctance in confronting terrorist networks.Bottom of Form “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more More »
Former al-Qaida Operatives Launch New Militant Group in Pakistan
A new al-Qaida-inspired militant group, the Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan, whose members have grown disaffected with the Islamic State group in the country, has recently emerged in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi claims to act as a platform for militants who breaking away from the IS. The group, Ansar al-Sharia Pakistan, was reportedly formed by More »
Pakistan Tell US, “You Won’t Win War on Terror Without Us”
The government of Pakistan has made it very clear, and they are correct that the war on terror “cannot be won by excluding or confronting” Islamabad. Despite the words of President Trump (also correct) criticizing Pakistan’s penchant for allowing terrorists linked to the Taliban and the Haqqani network to hide in their territory, Pakistan vows More »
Pakistan Courting China and Russia as US Ties Weaken
The governments of China and Russia have used the precarious position of Pakistan and its weakening ties to Washington to make serious inroads in their influence. The government of Pakistan, once a considered a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, has had to face allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist More »