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.
Both want to “save face” after Israel’s attack on Qatar and remind fellow Muslims about the importance of more intra-Ummah military-technical cooperation, not set the stage for an Israeli-Pakistani nuclear standoff or Saudi Arabia imposing an oil embargo on India like some suspect.
Islamic Nato in the making? Turkey is seeking to join a defence alliance between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, this can be seen as an effort in direction to reshape security alignments in the Middle East region and beyond, as Bloomberg reported.The pact, initially signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September, reportedly states that “any aggression” against one member would be treated as an attack on all — a provision that mirrors Article 5 of Nato, of which Turkey is a member and fields the second-largest military after the US.
La Chine a acquis une position dominante dans le secteur des minéraux critiques en Afrique grâce à des investissements à long terme dans les capacités d’extraction et de raffinage, ce qui rend difficile pour les pays africains de progresser dans la chaîne de valeur.
It is a long, tongue-twister of a name for a government scheme – ‘Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)’. It is even more torturous to read if you are not a Hindi speaker.
This is the name of the new scheme, which will replace the two decade old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MNREGA. Claimed to be an improvement over its predecessor, it is in fact a calculated dilution of the most critical lifeline for India’s rural poor
Mullah Shirin, the Taliban governor of Kandahar, has become one of the most powerful figures within the Taliban, wielding influence that in some cases surpasses the authority of their chief minister, multiple sources told Amu TV.
Six sources familiar with the matter said Shirin plays a central role in major decisions, often recommending ministerial appointments before they are formally considered by the Taliban chief minister Hassan Akhund’s office. They added that he manages much of the day-to-day affairs of Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada’s office, making him the closest aide to the reclusive supreme leader.
Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani met Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada during a visit to the southern city of Kandahar, sources familiar with the matter told Amu TV.
Details of the meeting have not been made public, but the visit came days after Haqqani sharply criticised the Taliban’s style of governance in a speech in the eastern province of Khost on December 12.
When President Trump travels to Beijing early next year to finalize a new trade deal, China will deploy one of its favorite pressure tactics: restricting exports of rare earth elements.
Last month, The New York Times’s Thomas Friedman warned that China’s threat to cut off rare earth exports could “trump Trump’s tariffs tenfold.” He’s right that Beijing sees these minerals as strategic leverage, but the real story is more complicated. The market is small, innovation is closing the gap, and allied countries are building alternative supply chains faster than many realize.