After the shambolic US withdrawal, Afghanistan faces an existential problem: Its very existence as a state is now in question. Most people forget that Afghanistan is a patchwork of disparate ethnic groups and remote villages. Unlike Germany or Japan, it is not and has never been a nation-state....
Usually, the first images that spring to mind when at the mention of endangered ursine species are either of the formidable polar bear traversing the Arctic regions or the endearing panda clumsily munching on bamboo. With just around 40 remaining in the world, the Gobi bear is, in fact, rarer than...
The upheaval in Afghanistan was undoubtedly one of the most shocking events of the year. It will likely have fatal consequences for the Afghan people, neighboring countries and the international community. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is so devastating that it is impossible to predict the...
Twenty years have passed since the 9/11 attacks in the United States. It was in the immediate aftermath that US President George W. Bush declared his infamous “war on terror” and launched a cataclysmic campaign of occupation in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2001, a US-led coalition invaded...
The New York Times enthusiastically reports on the good news coming from India. Matt Phillips and Emily Schmall are impressed by the recent upward movement in India’s stock market. Their article reads like a prospectus for investment in India targeting the financial and business class that are...
Early investment by Abu Dhabi in a rapid humanitarian response hub paved the way for an Emirati regional leadership role in humanitarian affairs and a model for future multilateral operations. The Emirates Humanitarian City (EHC), based in Abu Dhabi, has now moved from its founding mission,...
It is now well known that younger officers in the Pakistani army are no longer members of the Scotch-swilling elite. To understand the growing radicalization in Pakistan, it is instructive to read Nadeem F. Paracha, a noted columnist in Dawn, Pakistan’s most reputed newspaper. In 2013, he...
Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has been transformed into a paranoid state fanatically motivated by ensuring security at any and all cost. This obsession stems from the desire to maintain the physical security of the Chinese mainland, to safeguard Beijing’s investments abroad...
Following the fall of Kabul in August, the first face-to-face meeting between US officials and the Taliban took place last week. As is typical in such first encounters, both sides came with their respective agendas, including demands and requests of the other side. The one issue on which both...
Since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August, debates in Germany have flared up whether the country should grant access to more Afghan refugees. In the run-up to the general election in September, German politicians faced a dilemma. How should they address this contentious issue among...
"If we don't learn from the tragedies of the past, we are cursed to repeat them in the future," proclaims the home page of the website of the Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority. To ensure that the irony is not lost on either the creator or the visitor of the website, just...
