Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will address a gathering at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington today (Thursday), Dunya News reported. Asif will deliver remarks on Pakistan’s reaction since the announcement of the new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia. He will discuss the dynamics between Pakistan and its neighbours, the role of regional players such as China, Iran and Russia, and the future of US-Pakistan relations.

A new report says U.S. counterterrorism efforts need to focus much more on the long-term goal of supporting fragile countries and preventing extremism from taking root. The report, sponsored by the nonpartisan U.S. Institute of Peace, says that after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. response was to protect the homeland and pursue terrorists abroad. Now, the authors say, the U.S. should emphasize the stabilization of countries where...

Fragility & Resilience

Fragility & Resilience

A new report by the leaders of the 9/11 Commission has warned that growing Russian and Chinese influence threatens to create more extremism worldwide, and encouraged the U.S. to fight to retain global leadership. Released on the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the document suggests Russian and Chinese interests could see the two countries support more authoritarian governments across the developing world, which...

Fragility & Resilience

Extremism poses a greater global threat today than it did 17 years ago, despite costly U.S. military action overseas, according to members of the U.S. government commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. Deaths from terrorist attacks each year have increased substantially since 2001 and violent extremism has spread, according to the report Tuesday from the task force on extremism in fragile states led by...

Fragility & Resilience

The nature of war is changing. Whereas in the 1960s, almost 70% of conflict took place in the poorest countries, by the 2000s, middle-income countries were seeing the largest share of conflict. These are places like Syria, Nigeria and Myanmar — relatively rich countries, at least judging by GDP, but with localized or widespread violence and massive displacement. Before the civil war began in 2011, Syria was one of the wealthiest countries...

The next round of Syria peace talks are scheduled to begin Friday, even as the international community braces for a potential bloodbath in Idlib province, the country’s last rebel stronghold. The United Nations said a major offensive by the Syrian regime and its allies in the northwestern province could be the “worst humanitarian disaster” of the 21st century, putting at risk more than 3 million people in Idlib and the surrounding areas...