Asif Durrani

Undoubtedly, US-Taliban peace agreement has been the hallmark event to declare the culmination of US’ longest war in its history and vindication of Afghans‘ fighting spirit against the foreign occupation. It’s the fulfilment of President Trump’s election promise to end the “wasteful war and bring the boys home”. That the US acknowledged Taliban as formidable […]

The results of Friday (21 February) elections of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) show that “Principlists” (conservatives or hardliners) have won two thirds of seats in a house of 290. The “reformists” (or moderates) could get only 17 seats. The “Priciplists” have won all the 30 seats of Tehran previously held by the reformists. Reportedly, more […]

It is now almost two months that the US and Taliban resumed talks after a three month hiatus. Media reports suggest that both sides have been sounding positive about the forward movement in the otherwise hectic negotiations and have even indicated that a final outcome is just a few days away. In principle, there is […]

The resumption of talks between the US and Taliban, after a hiatus of three months, is indicative of hectic efforts that had gone into putting the dialogue process back on track. Pakistan played behind-the-scene role in mending the fences between the Americans and Taliban. Last week the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban delegation met […]

The passage of Citizens Amendment Bill (CAB) 2019 by the Indian Parliament allowing Indian citizenship to minorities facing persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan is yet another tool acquired by the Hindutva regime to malign Islam and persecute Muslims in India. The bill identifies Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis (Zoroastrians) and Christians as minorities facing […]

Is it a coincidence that unrest in Iraq and Lebanon began two months ago almost simultaneously followed by anti-government demonstrations in Iransome weeks lateralthough for reasons of sudden rise in petrol prices up to 300 percent? There is another commonality-both Iraqi and Lebanese demonstrations apart from raising anti-government slogans mainly against corruption, nepotism and rising […]

Ever since President Donald Trump called off dialogue with the Taliban in the second week of September, the situation in Afghanistan continues to be uncertain. Although there have been a couple of rounds of informal talks between Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban both sides have been avoiding public pronouncements about the outcome. However, some confidence […]

If Mr. Modi’s first term (2014-19) consolidated his position through hate agenda directed at the minorities, especially the Muslims, the overwhelming majority he earned for the second term this yearis perceived by the RSS-led Hindutva forces as a carte blanch to pursue its agenda to next level of terror. Not only public lynching of Muslims […]

US President Trump may have tried to play smart by suddenly calling off talks with the Taliban apparently to give a jolt to the religious militia. However, battle-hardened Taliban have equally been a hard nut to crack. Their immediate contacts with Russia, Tehran and Beijing demonstrated their ability to preempt damage President Trump’s announcement may […]

No doubt Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke like a statesman. Whether it was climate change, money laundering by corrupts in the poor countries, Islamophobia or Kashmiri peoples right to self-determination, he articulated his government’s resolve in a clear and forthright manner. As regards the speech, PM Khan displayed a clear understanding of the climate issues […]