As the Taliban shift their focus from insurgency to government, their most formidable rival is the Islamic State’s regional chapter, which has staged a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks.
The latest atrocity claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) killed at least 19 people Tuesday, including a senior Taliban commander at a military hospital in Kabul, with dozens more wounded.
China’s establishment of military bases in Tajikistan reflects a shared concern with Central Asian countries about the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.
Tajikistan is pivotal to China and other actors because it borders areas of Afghanistan where there is a small, but active, armed opposition to the Taliban.
ISIS is slowly regrouping in both Iraq and Syria, forming sleeper cells to launch attacks, while maintaining an effective command-and-control to wage a low-level guerrilla insurgency and mobilize new support.
The Islamic State is able to conduct asymmetric attacks on civilians and security forces, but can also marshal the resources to launch spectacular attacks intended to destabilize the Iraqi government.
For months, critics have accused Russia of withholding additional natural-gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine in order to pressure Brussels to fast-track its new Baltic Sea export pipeline, Nord Stream 2.
Once it receives final approvals, the pipeline to Germany will enable Russia to reroute gas exports to Europe around Ukraine, depriving the cash-strapped country of billions of dollars a year in transit fees.
Amid numerous discussions about the future of Ukraine – a country that has been unable to form a single nation in 30 years of independence, and is torn apart by interethnic, linguistic and economic contradictions, Europe should ask itself just what Ukraine really means to it. And the answer will be the same – a buffer zone, because this clearly reflects Ukraine’s geopolitical role in relations with NATO and the EU. The Alliance needs Ukraine as a buffer zone, and even not all of it at that.
The fifth election since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 generated a record-low turnout of just 41 percent. However, the results contained some surprises.
While the elections took place about three weeks ago, the Pro-Iranian groups continue to denounce the results from Iraq’s elections as “manipulation” and a “scam.” That’s because the biggest losers were the pro-Iranian parties with links to the armed groups that make up the Iranian proxy militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
Ukraine says Russia has kept tens of thousands of troops near its border following military exercises, in what Kyiv described as part of Moscow’s attempts to exert pressure on its neighbor.
The number of Russian troops not far from the Ukrainian border and in areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine now totals 90,000, the Defense Ministry said on November 3.
The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan is transforming the regional landscape and unnerving neighbouring countries. Central Asian countries face migration flows, humanitarian challenges and political uncertainty. The post-American Afghanistan also provides Moscow and Beijing, as well several other regional powers like Tehran and Islamabad, with opportunities to enhance regional engagement as the world moves towards multipolarity.
China and Russia, and regional powers, are eager to increase their influence in Central Asia, though with divergent goals. No single power is capable of taking on the security role the United States played.
While the November 14 presidential election looks like a shoo-in for the incumbent Radev, the general election on the same day looks harder to call
Bulgaria is closing an unprecedented year: by the end of 2021, its citizens will have voted in no less than four elections: inconclusive general elections in April and in July, yet another general election on November 14 and, on the same day, presidential elections scheduled by default for 2021.
The release of the convicted war criminal Sreten Lukic and his return to Serbia highlights how the Belgrade authorities are still doing nothing to prosecute other high-ranking officials for wartime crimes in Kosovo and the subsequent cover-up.
Isaw him only once – in court. But I tracked the results of his work in bones and graves.
Sreten Lukic, Serbia’s head of police for Kosovo during the 1998-99 war, was granted early release from prison last month. He has returned to live in Serbia after serving two-thirds of a 20-year sentence for murder, persecution, deportation, and forcible transfer as crimes against humanity.