South East Asia

The idea of ‘AUKUS Plus’ has re-emerged after the UK Foreign Affairs Committee issued a 2023 report saying the United Kingdom should extend cooperation ‘to partners such as Japan and South Korea’ as part of AUKUS ‘Strand B’ — or ‘Pillar Two’. This strand focuses on military technology cooperation with close allies on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, quantum and undersea innovations, hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, electronic warfare capabilities and further information sharing.

Afghanistan has been no stranger to turbulence and upheaval, particularly concerning its historical association with terrorism. Situated at the crossroads of geopolitical rivalries, the country’s significance in the realm of global security has been pronounced, primarily owing to its tumultuous past, including periods when it served as a sanctuary for extremist elements.

Over one hundred years ago, Ludwig von Mises wrote about the impossibility of successful rational economic planning under socialism. Yet China is still trying, even while its blend of markets and socialism results in shortages and surpluses. This article examines three contemporary initiatives spearheaded by Xi Jinping, each marked by an inherent problem: food insecurity, the aging crisis, and the real-estate bubble. Each problem was created by legislation and is being made worse by further legislation enacted to correct the problem.

The pictures from Afghanistan in August 2021 are indelible: As the Taliban swept through the countryside and stormed Kabul, reclaiming the country from Western-funded elites, the U.S. presence in the country evaporated overnight, and thousands of Afghans tried in desperation to escape the country on the last few U.S. aircraft to leave. Approximately 76,000 escaped in the cargo holds of American planes, the largest humanitarian airlift in recent history.

On October 4, Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti ordered “illegal immigrants” to vacate the country by the end of that month. The move has invoked widespread fear among the approximately 1.7 million Afghans living in the country.

Afghans are the most unfortunate ones on the planet that they have in trouble in their homeland and with neighbours, soon after they emerged as a nation in 1747 due to their geography and geo-strategic importance well described by great poet Alama Iqbal, “the heart of Asia and Lord Curzon a British statesman, foreign secretary and viceroy in United India, “the roundabout of Asia.

Pakistan has ordered all undocumented immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghans, to leave the country by November 1, vowing mass deportations for those who stay.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar approved the plan Tuesday at a high-level meeting of his top civilian and military officials in Islamabad.

Despite repeated promises of the Pakistani authorities, the arrest and harassment of Afghan refugees by the police in Pakistan continues, Afghan embassy in Pakistan said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.

Over the last two weeks, many Afghans have been arrested in different areas of Pakistan, especially in and around Islamabad, where the majority of documented refugees reside.