South East Asia

Sidestepping Great Power Rivalry: U.S.-China Competition in Africa

If the early months of the Biden administration are any indication, the U.S.-China rivalry shows no signs of dimming anytime soon. Initial meetings between top Biden administration and Chinese officials in March were heated and appear to have done little to reduce tensions over many divisive issues. There is growing bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for “hardline” policies against Beijing. Meanwhile, China is increasingly active worldwide, including in Africa, where its expanding presence is concerning to the United States.

There Are No Winners In Afghanistan – OpEd

The U.S. has all the watches, but we have all the time.” This quote, sometimes attributed to a captured Taliban fighter, is among the handful of now-famous anecdotes produced by the Afghan War. “The U.S. hasn’t fought a 20-year war in Afghanistan. It has fought 20 one-year wars in Afghanistan,” is another likely to make its way to the annals of history.

Similarly, for at least the past 10 years it seems there have been at least ten different debates on the U.S. role in Afghanistan: Should we stay? Should we go? Should we switch strategies?

‘The Worst Seemed Very Far Away’: Andrew Exum on the Afghanistan War

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his decision to fully withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept.11. After 20 years and two generations of American service members fighting there, America’s longest war will come to an end. What will the legacy of that war be for the U.S. military? And will it have a lasting impact on American society?

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Top Cleric Congratulates Afghan Taliban On U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan, Claims Syria’s HTS, Turkistan Islamic Party Follow The Taliban’s Model

On April 28, 2021, the religious official of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) published a post on his Telegram channel commenting on the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan.[1]

Abu Mariyah Al-Qahtani began his post by congratulating the Taliban on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and highlighting the group’s long journey toward this outcome, which included fighting with rival groups.

US-China Cold War Could Lead To A More Dangerous Nuclear Stand-Off – OpEd

Despite the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), we are confronted by the increasing dangers of great power war, even nuclear war.

Instead of making necessary investments to ensure public health, reverse climate change and ensure the security of their peoples, trillions of dollars are being wasted to construct new nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, including new hypersonic delivery systems.

Enhancing U.S.-China Strategic Stability in an Era of Strategic Competition

As strategic competition between the United States and China intensifies, preventing a destabilizing arms race and lowering the risk of military, especially nuclear, confrontation is critical. The essays in this volume—based on a series of workshops convened by USIP’s Asia Center in late 2020—highlight both the striking differences and the commonalities between U.S. and Chinese assessments of the root causes of instability and the drivers of conflict in the nuclear, conventional missile and missile defense, space, cyberspace and artificial intelligence realms.

Will Communist China Dominate the Middle East?

“The connection between the BRI and the strategic partnerships it creates in the region… allows it to gradually take over the region without creating tensions with the U.S. or the West. In other words, the BRI is a sophisticated Chinese plan to transfer hegemony from the West and the U.S. to China without war or conflict”. — Dr. Mordechai Chaziz, author of the book China’s Middle East Diplomacy: The Belt and Road Strategic Partnership.

“China has signed documents on Belt and Road cooperation with 19 Middle East countries,” Wang told Al Arabiya during his visit to Saudi Arabia, one of the six countries he visited on his tour, “and carried out distinctive collaboration with each of them…. China is ready to …. expand new areas of growth such as high and new technologies.” The other countries Wang visited were Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Bahrain.

Biden’s Betrayal of Afghanistan

Under the terms of the Doha deal former US President Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban in the Gulf state of Qatar last February, the withdrawal of US forces was contingent on the Taliban renouncing violence, as well as ending its long-standing support for Islamist terror groups like al-Qaeda.

As a recent US Treasury report has concluded, the Taliban has maintained its links with al-Qaeda, as well as other Islamist terrorist organisations. The report stated that al-Qaeda is “gaining strength in Afghanistan while continuing to operate with the Taliban under the Taliban’s protection.” It adds that the group “capitalizes on its relationship with the Taliban through its network of mentors and advisers who are embedded with the Taliban, providing advice, guidance, and financial support.”

Corruption in Pakistan: Civil, Judicial, political and Military – An Overview

Corruption in the sense of civil and military servants and Public officials and politicians of Pakistan pocketing public funds or taking bribes is too well known and documented by in-country and international agencies, to be worthy of any unusual notice. After all, the country has had the dubious distinction of being on the top of the list of corrupt countries several times. But the factors underlying the problem merit a second look.

The Afghan Taliban’s Goal Is To Establish A Sunni Islamic Theocratic State – They Do Not Believe In Power-Sharing With A Democratically Elected Government

Introduction

On April 14, 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, or the Afghan Taliban organization) announced that it would not participate in the Istanbul conference on the future of Afghanistan. The Istanbul conference, which was set to begin on April 24, is led primarily by the United States, with other partners being Turkey, Qatar, and the United Nations.[1]

Muhammad Naeem, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate’s Political Office in Doha, tweeted: “Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan”; “The IEA performs its work with consultations [i.e., shura or the shari’a-based executive council] according to the guidance of the noble religion of Islam and then adopts the stance whatsoever is decided in the result of the consultation [shura].”[2]