Another attack on Pakistan’s Shiites – where is the state?
A suicide bomber has targeted a Shiite procession in southern Pakistan, killing at least 15 people. Attacks on Shiites have intensified over the years - a result of the state's support for Sunni extremists, say experts.
The attacker hit the procession of the Ashoura mourners on Friday in the southern...
From Export to Import: The rise of Jihadism and the advent of the Islamic...
The origin of Islamisation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is threatened by an increasing surge of radical Islamist violence. The killings of Bangladeshi liberal thinkers and progressive secularists, such as the blogger Avijit Roy, are not an entirely new phenomenon and exemplify the gravity of the situation. As such, the murder of...
From FATA to Kunduz: The Pakistani Taliban’s new northwards orientation
From FATA to Kunduz: The Pakistani Taliban’s new northwards orientation
BY DR. SIEGFRIED O. WOLF ON OCTOBER 19, 2015 ASIA, TERRORISM / INSURGENCY
On 28 September, 2015, the Taliban launched a major offensive in northern Afghanistan, capturing the city of Kunduz. The fact that some hundred Taliban fighters took over a major...
Kunduz – Beyond the Battleground
SIEGFRIED O. WOLF, OCT 16 20151616
Kunduz – Beyond the Battleground
There is life in the old dog yet! This simplistic slogan demonstrates how wrong international media and many analysts were by assessing the latest trajectories within the Taliban and the future path this movement might take. To be precise, the...
AP Interview: India’s environment minister says reducing poverty is climate justice
Originally published at News Republic.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India will confirm plans next week for a fivefold increase in renewable energy by 2020, the environment minister said. But it will continue to champion poor countries in their demand that industrialized nations assume the brunt of responsibility for decades of...
50 Years After the 1965 War: What Has Changed in India-Pakistan Relations? September 9th...
Originally published at Hudson.
September marks the 50th anniversary of the seventeen-day war fought between India and Pakistan. The 1965 war involved nearly one million troops and ended in a ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union. The United States played an important role in the struggle, cutting off military supplies...
In Reversal, Obama Says U.S. Soldiers Will Stay in Afghanistan to 2017
Originally published at The New York Times.
WASHINGTON — President Obama halted the withdrawal of American military forces from Afghanistan on Thursday, announcing that the United States will keep thousands of troops in the country through the end of his term in 2017 and indefinitely prolonging the American role in a...
Hurting the Host: The Rationale of the Afghan Exodus
SIEGFRIED O. WOLF, OCT 8 2015
Image by Marianna Karakoulaki
Afghanistan has experienced close to four decades of perpetual violence wars, political upheavals, and religious and ethnic clashes, resulting in millions of Afghans fleeing to neighbouring countries for protection. Facing the Soviet invasion after the Saur revolution and the ensuing civil...
The Battle Over Kunduz and its Implications
By Dr. Siegfried O. Wolf
On 28 September 2015 the Taliban launched a major offensive in North Afghanistan resulting in the overrun of city of Kunduz. The fact that some hundred Taliban fighters were taking over a major urban centre- an area which was held by 7000 regular Afghan troops, in...
Who is fighting in northern Afghanistan?
Who is fighting in northern Afghanistan?
Reports have emerged that along with the Afghan Taliban, scores of Central Asian Islamists and Pakistani jihadists are fighting in northern Afghanistan. Are the militants becoming a multi-national movement?
It is true that the Taliban had to retreat from Kunduz, only days after taking over...