Recently, Pakistan was rocked by the Baloch Liberation Army’s “Herof Phase 2” offensive, a coordinated assault across nine districts that combined urban raids, rural guerrilla tactics, suicide missions, and psychological warfare. This was not simply an internal security lapse, it was a geopolitical tremor reverberating across South Asia.
The Taliban-run higher education ministry has begun issuing bachelor’s degrees to 325 madrassa graduates, including alumni of religious schools in Pakistan, according to a ministry statement and an official list.
The ministry said the process started on Thursday, Feb. 12. Among those set to receive degrees are 10 graduates of what it described as “jihadi” madrassas.
Making the remarks on Monday, Jabbar-Ali Zakeri pointed to the increase in the number of the Chinese trains passing through Iran, and emphasized the need to reduce transportation costs between Iran and China in order to boost exports.
China is receiving a wave of high-profile visits by world leaders lately. At least five world leaders have visited Beijing in January alone. And the momentum continues on February.
When The Guardian reported on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recently concluded China trip, it stated, “Starmer hopes his China trip will begin the thaw after recent ice age.”
The South Caucasus – comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – is a small but geopolitically significant region, susceptible to intense competition between regional and global powers. It is also situated at a strategic crossroads between Russia, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, which was followed by the expulsion of 120,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s forcible takeover of the entire region in September 2023, shifted the regional balance of power in favour of Azerbaijan.
Abstract: The Baloch insurgency in Pakistan has intensified sharply since the beginning of 2025, marked by sophisticated attacks such as the Jaffar Express hijacking by Baloch Liberation Army-Jeeyand faction (BLA-J) on March 11, 2025, which resulted in the kidnapping of more than 400 passengers and death of at least 26 hostages. Groups such as BLA-J, Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), and Baloch Liberation Army-Azad faction (BLA-A) continue to deploy suicide bombers, including women, and temporarily seize territories, targeting Chinese nationals and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. The insurgency’s regional spillover, especially into Iran, and competition for resources and prominence among factions of the insurgency further complicate Pakistan’s internal security. The Baloch Raaji Aajohi Sangar (BRAS) coalition among some of the major Baloch armed groups involved in the conflict enables large-scale, coordinated strikes, undermining counterterrorism efforts. Without a political resolution addressing long-standing grievances, the insurgency threatens to escalate, destabilizing both national and regional security.
Quand l’infiltration devient une arme, seule la discipline d’État empêche l’implosion.
Il faut sortir du commentaire superficiel et regarder le cas chinois avec la froideur d’un stratège. Ce qui se déroule au sommet de la hiérarchie militaire chinoise n’est pas une simple chronique de corruption, encore moins un «fait divers politique». C’est un événement doctrinal, un signal brutal adressé au monde : les grandes puissances ne tolèrent jamais la vulnérabilité interne, surtout lorsqu’elles entrent dans une phase de confrontation systémique avec leurs rivaux.
Taliban have absorbed former fighters from various terrorist groups into their local security forces to draw on their combat experience, a United Nations sanctions monitoring report says, warning that the practice raises concerns about infiltration and ideological alignment within their ranks.
Introduction
The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) to the forefront of the global jihadist movement challenges al Qaeda’s prominence and influence. The ISIS counter-state that does away with the Iraq-Syria border, as well as its growing presence in such places as Libya, the Sinai, and Afghanistan, are proof of the group’s power and the effectiveness of its strategy. The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, described al Qaeda’s leadership as individuals who have become misguided and who have misled the global jihadist movement.[1] Baghdadi demands allegiance from all Muslims and claims the title, emir al mumineen, commander of the faithful, which was held for decades by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. ISIS’s growth has taken its toll on the al Qaeda network. Groups that had once been associated with al Qaeda have splintered, declaring their loyalty to Baghdadi. Al Qaeda’s name no longer carries the same recruitment power it once did.
Pakistan is functioning as the force multiplier in the Saudi-Turkish-Egyptian proxy campaign against the UAE in Africa that it’s finally participating in after sitting on the sidelines for so long.
Reuters recently reported that “Pakistan nears $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons, jets to Sudan”, which follows last month’s report from them that “Pakistan strikes $4 billion deal to sell weapons to Libyan force, officials say”. It was assessed after the last-mentioned report that “Pakistan Is Playing Second Fiddle To Turkiye In Afro-Eurasian Security” since there’s now a pattern of it clinching security deals with third countries like Azerbaijan, Somalia, and then Libya sometime after its Turkish strategic partner does.