Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
Umar, a high school student, vanished from his home in northwestern Pakistan last month. Weeks later, he sent a brief message on WhatsApp to his family members from neighboring Afghanistan. “I’ve joined the TTP. This is a final goodbye,” wrote the 17-year-old, according to his father. Umar, whose family...
During the lull between Christmas and the new year, something alarming flashed up on Heathrow Airport’s specialist scanning technology. From the depths of a shipment of scrap metal, a radioactive signal. While false alerts can sometimes be triggered, this one was not one of them. Metal bars embedded with uranium had...
The major investments of China in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has been targeted by the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) and other terrorist groups. Nikkei Asia reported that attacks on Chinese projects in the area are also a kind of retaliation for the inhuman treatment of the Muslim Uyghur population in...
As legal cases mount against former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, his supporters have expressed anger over the government’s actions. Khan, 69, came under pressure last week after he was booked under anti-terrorism laws for “threatening” senior police officials and a...
Many Afghans say their cities and villages feel safer under the Taliban. Now in power, the assaults that the Taliban once waged are no more. But a wave of targeted attacks by ISIS is undermining that security, especially among minority groups. NPR's Arezou Rezvani reports from Kabul. It's just before the start of...
The weight of Perry Blackburn's reality is most apparent when his voice cracks and as he rubs his eyes from exhaustion. It's not uncommon for both to happen when the former Green Beret is talking about Afghanistan or its people. "I feel like our government betrayed us," the Tampa, Florida, resident told...
The strike last month on al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri showed at first glance that U.S. forces can still carry out military and intelligence missions in Afghanistan without American boots on the ground. Beneath the surface, however, the bombing of al-Zawahri’s safe house in Kabul exposed much deeper, long-term problems for the U.S...
Two days after external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that counter-terror as an explanation to provide a F-16 package to Pakistan did not fool anyone, United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Pakistan faced real terror threats and that the package would add to Pakistani capabilities. But he also clarified...
“The movement against Imran Khan’s government is inseparable from his controversial rise to power in the 2018 election, which was manipulated by the army to push Khan over the line,” said Mir.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the prime minister’s moves