The writer is a scientist and teaches Physics at a university in Lahore. They perpetrated colossal damage to the state of Pakistan and killed thousands of innocent civilians in suicide blasts. Security forces were responding in localised chunks and the terrorists were shifting their positions setting up their bases at multiple locations. Policy makers were utterly confused and there was no holistic treatment of this menace. A certain faction of Mullahs was making it worse…
Posts published in “Day: February 22, 2016”
The writer is a freelance columnist. The outgoing commander of Operation Resolute Support and American troops in Afghanistan, General John F Campbell, paid a farewell to Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on February 18th, 2016. Campbell paid rich tributes to the professionalism and phenomenal achievements of Pakistan Army in Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He also acknowledged Pakistan Army’s efforts towards regional stability. General Raheel thanked Campbell in particular for his efforts to bring about stability in Afghanistan!…
Two Taliban militants have been killed in a bomb blast in the provincial capital of Paktika province. Spokesperson for the provincial governor said the incident took place in Sali area late on Saturday. Nabiullah Peerkhil said the militants were busy planting a landmine on on the road that exploded killing both of them killed on the spot. Taliban have not yet commented on the report. Paktika which shares along border with Pakistan is a restive…
At least sixteen insurgents including foreign nationals fighting with the anti-government armed militants were killed in separate military operations led by the Afghan army in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in Jawzjan, Baghlan and northern Kunduz provinces of the country. A statement by MoD said a foreign insurgent was killed along with 7 others during an operation in Qosh Tapa district of Jawzjan and two other…
The shadow governor of Taliban for Chahardara District of northern Kundoz province has been arrested by security forces. Ministry of Interior says Mohammad Sayed Raza was arrested during a raid of the special units of police in Mahmood Raqi city of Kapisa late on Saturday. “During a special operation of Afghan National Police (Special Units), a Taliban so-called district governor for Chahar Dara district of northern Kunduz province, named Mohammad Sayed Raza was arrested in…
Senate chairman Fazel Hadi Muslimyar has said that the government must take advantage of the split within the Taliban especially as new factions continue to emerge within the group. He said that the current power struggle within the group could help bring them back to the negotiating table. While divergence within the group in some way complicates the peace process, many believe that this also offers an opportunity to government to act and get the…
An influential political and religious figure Pir Syed Ahmad Gilani has been appointed as the new Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council. The former Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili has been appointed as the Deputy Chief of the High Peace Council along with Mawlavi Ata-ur-Rehman, Mawlavi Khaibar and Habiba Surabi. The new appointments comes days after the major international donors suspended aid to the council due to the lack of the leadership. The council…
The rapid rise in Chinese military spending and a greater assertiveness in its territorial claims is fueling an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region even though many of the countries involved have been hit by an economic slowdown, new research reports suggest. Of the 10 biggest importers of defense equipment in the past five years, six countries were in the Asia-Pacific region, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said in an annual report…
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore When the Saudi government announced in December last year that Pakistan was part of a military alliance of 34 Muslim countries, it surprised everyone, including Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry. Chaudhry told journalists that he had asked country’s ambassador in Riyadh to clarify the matter with the Saudi government. Two months later, Pakistan is part of an alliance of 20 Muslim nations forged by Saudi Arabia to…
The writer is Senior Research Associate at the Strategic Vision Institute Islamabad Lately, the Middle Eastern region has been able to garner a lot of world attention where the KSA-Iran rivalry has become more obvious than ever before. It has always been considered important by the major powers owing to its abundant oil and gas resources. But the recent chain of events since last year has not only evoked worldwide responses, specifically from Russia and…
U.S. Scrambles to Contain Growing ISIS Threat in Libya By ERIC SCHMITT in The NY Times, Feb 22, 2016
THIES, Senegal — The Islamic State’s branch in Libya is deepening its reach across a wide area of Africa, attracting new recruits from countries like Senegal that had been largely immune to the jihadist propaganda — and forcing the African authorities and their Western allies to increase efforts to combat the fast-moving threat. The American airstrikes in north-western Libya on Friday, which demolished an Islamic State training camp and were aimed at a top Tunisian…