Region Related Event Feeds

Homegrown Terrorism

jdunton — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Incidents of “homegrown terrorism”—extremist violence perpetrated by U.S. citizens or legal U.S.

2012 Global Forecast

ian — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Will Conflicts over Water Scarcity Shape South Asia’s Future?

rbhasker — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Climate change, combined with rapid population growth and urbanization, is placing intense pressure on South Asia’s most precious resource: water. Over the last decade, devastating floods have displaced millions of people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Changing rainfall patterns and retreating glaciers are expected to further exacerbate the situation in the years ahead.

Dealing With the Growing Afghan and U.S. Tensions That Are Losing the War

ian — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The US, its allies and Afghanistan face a war-losing crisis over the growing tensions between them. These tensions exist at many levels and on both sides.

TWQ: A Strategy of “Congagement” toward Pakistan - Spring 2012

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

A better way to conceptualize the Pakistani challenge is to recognize that Pakistan fits into a category of states that are both things at once: ally and adversary. The national interests of these states, as defined by key elites and policymakers, are consistent with some U.S. goals but opposed to others.

TWQ: Reversing Pakistan’s Descent: Empowering its Middle Class - Spring 2012

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Pakistan is not, today, a failed state. However, for the first time since I started focusing on South Asia, in the past eight or so years, there is a real possibility that it could become one. Pakistanis must take full responsibility for this state of affairs. Their unwillingness to do so, and attempts to shift blame to the United States, India, and others, is evident.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Southern Punjab Region

jdunton — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Southern Punjab is a loosely defined region in Punjab Province that includes Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, and the Bahawalpur Civil Divisions. Compared to other parts of the province, Southern Punjab has underdeveloped communication networks, poor infrastructure, weak social services institutions, inadequate agricultural inputs, and large gaps in municipal services.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Impact of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Pakistan

sherry — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

US and Iranian efforts to bolster their strategic ties to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia are another significant aspect of their confrontation. This aspect of the competition between them is analyzed in detail in U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Impact of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Pakistan.

Critical Questions for 2012

ian — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

From international security and regional study to global challenges, CSIS experts will address many of the world's most difficult policy concerns and critical questions in 2012. To kick off the new year, we asked 25 of our scholars to identity what worries them most and what are the biggest opportunities in their respective areas of study.

TWQ: The Pakistan Thorn in China–India–U.S. Relations - Winter 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

At a time when Pakistan is under intense scrutiny about its role in fighting extremism and terrorism, the world has been watching to see how Beijing decides to deal with Islamabad. Despite Pakistan’s growing diplomatic isolation in recent months, China’s support has been steadfast, at least publicly. Two weeks after the May 2011 U.S.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

jdunton — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The traditional weaknesses in service delivery within Pakistan’s provincial and district governments have arisen from the complex interplay of several factors. Resource mobilization for essential services has always been a challenge for provincial governments, which typically have been dependent on federal handouts.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan's Khyber Agency

jdunton — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

In mid-October 2011, thousands of families were fleeing Khyber, one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), to refugee camps or relatives living outside of FATA. Their flight was in response to the announcement by the Pakistani military that it was undertaking a fresh round of operations against militant groups operating in the area.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Chitral District

jdunton — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Chitral, the northernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, lies at the extreme northwest of Pakistan. It shares a border with Afghanistan’s Badakhshan, Nuristan, and Kunar Provinces to the north and west, with Gilgit-Baltistan region to the east, and with the Kohistan, Swat, and Dir Districts to the south.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan War at the End of 2011

sherry — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The US faces hard decisions in the Afghanistan/Pakistan War that are growing steadily harder as the time before transition runs out, the US faces growing budget pressures, and the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan becomes more unstable. The Burke Chair has prepared a report that assesses the chances for strategic success based on new US government, UN, and NGO reporting.

India and Afghanistan: Positioning for Withdrawal

NLombardo — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Today, with U.S. and NATO forces beginning their withdrawal from Afghanistan, the historical sequel to the Soviet Union’s 1989 withdrawal from the country is unfolding. The newest wrinkle in this story is that India is now actively involved and trying to position itself accordingly.

India-Pakistan Trade: Better Late Than Never

ian — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Q1: What does Pakistan’s decision to grant most-favored-nation (MFN) status to India mean?

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

jdunton — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

In 2009, the Swat Valley became a focal point of Pakistan’s war against militancy and terrorism. The government signed a peace agreement effectively ceding control of the district to the local Taliban faction, allowing it to enforce its interpretation of Islamic law.

TWQ: Pakistan’s Nuclear Calculus - Fall 2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

In recent years, Pakistan has developed the world’s fastest-growing nuclear weapons program. The most current estimates are that Pakistan now possesses enough fissile material for more than 100 warheads, which makes it the world’s sixth largest arsenal, and is stockpiling enough material to manufacture as many as 20 additional weapons a year.

The 2010 Flooding Disaster in Pakistan

jdunton — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The catastrophic flooding in Pakistan in 2010 laid bare the multiplicity of fault lines that beleaguer the country as perhaps no other single event in its history.

Afghanistan and Pakistan: Continuing Security Challenges For the United States

ian — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The US confronts a wide range of challenges if it is to win the Afghan conflict in any meaningful sense, and leave a stable Afghanistan and Pakistan:

Competition in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Pakistan

ian — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Confronting an Uncertain Threat

jdunton — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) have become an increasingly diffuse security threat. Although the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands may have represented the epicenter of global terrorism in the past decade, al Qaeda’s various regional affiliates are growing in prominence.

India and Pakistan: Getting Down to Business?

sherry — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On July 27, 2011, Indian external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and newly installed Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar will meet in New Delhi. This will be the first formal meeting of foreign ministers since the November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Art of the Possible

jdunton — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On June 14, 2011, more than 200 policymakers and experts participated in an invitation-only, full-day working meeting at CSIS to discuss a constructive, realistic way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The main topics were Afghan governance, the Afghan security sector, and Pakistani cooperation.

Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: Part 7: The Problem of Pakistan & the Probability of Grand Strategic Success

sherry — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The Burke Chair has prepared a new report entitled The Problem of Pakistan and the Probability of Grand Strategic Success. It is available on the CSIS web site at http://csis.org/files/publication/110627_afghan_metrics_vii.pdf.

The Failures That Shaped (and Almost Lost) the Afghan War

ian — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The Burke Chair has prepared a seven-part analytic overview of unclassified metrics, and of how their current content relates to the challenges in policy, plans, resources, and management of the war that now reduce the prospects of victory.

Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan

ian — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The CSIS Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation (C3), formerly the PCR Project, has studied the link between the rise of nonstate armed groups (or militants, for the sake of simplicity) and the quality of local governance in Afghanistan and Pakistan: whether a link exists and, if so, what the United States can do about it, if anything.

Pakistan: Violence vs. Stability

mentman — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Executive Summary

As the events surrounding the death of Osama Bin Laden make all too clear, Pakistan is passing through one of the most dangerous periods of instability in its history. This instability goes far beyond Al Qa’ida, the Taliban, and the war in Afghanistan. A net assessment of the patterns of violence and stability indicate that Pakistan is approaching a perfect storm of threats, including rising extremism, a failing economy, chronic underdevelopment, and an intensifying war, resulting in unprecedented political, economic and social turmoil.

The Afghan War and the Problem of Pakistan

ian — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Pakistan presents a critical challenge to the United States in fighting the war in Afghanistan. The US, ISAF, and Afghan forces are making significant tactical progress, and realistic transition planning is beginning for the first time.

Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: Part 6: Victory is Possible but "Fragile and Reversible"

mentman — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Current Tactical Gains, Uncertain Strategic Value

After bin Laden: A Chance to Review the U.S.-Pakistan Relationship—without Distractions

rsickles — Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The temptation by the United States is to visit immediate consequences on Pakistan for the alliance breaches related to Osama bin Laden. As former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf concluded on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition last Friday, the entire episode exposes either complicity or incompetence by Pakistan’s military, especially its security forces.

Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: The Status of the War in the Spring of 2011

mentman — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The war in Afghanistan is now approaching its tenth year. In spite of that fact, the US, allied countries, ISAF, and the UN have failed to develop adequate unclassified reporting on the progress of the war, to provide meaningful transparency on the problems and challenge it faces, and to provide a clear and detailed plan for the future.

Bin Laden's Gone: What Now for Defense Policy?

ian — Wed, 04 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The death of Osama bin Laden (OBL) at the hands of U.S. special operations forces is a watershed moment for defense strategists. Like the 9/11 attacks, it isn’t really the beginning or end of anything new. The world didn’t change on 9/11. What did change was how the United States and its national security community perceived threats and their likelihood.

What Bin Laden's death means for U.S. policy

mentman — Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

For most of the past decade, Osama bin Laden defined U.S. national security policy. Now that the man behind the 11 September 2001 attacks has finally been brought to justice, President Barack Obama has an opportunity to re-shape the direction of his foreign policy.

The Death of Osama Bin Laden, and the Shape of Threats to Come

mentman — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

No American -- or anyone else one who opposes violent, murderous terrorism -- can see Osama Bin Laden’s death as anything but just retribution. We need to be very cautious, however, in assuming that it will now damage Al Qa’ida and other Islamist extremist networks, or that we can predict the political and strategic consequences.

Bin Laden Is Dead: Is It Time to Leave Afghanistan?

sherry — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Minutes after word leaked to the media that President Obama would soon be announcing Osama bin Laden’s death, the comment boards were already filling with cheers of “mission accomplished”—triumphantly by some (“we got him!”), sarcastically by others (Obama’s announcement came eight years to the day after President Bush’s “Mission Accomplishe

Issue Perspective - Vol. 1, Issue 1

mentman — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

In this issue:

"India-Pakistan Trade and 'Other Channels of Engagement'" by Amb. Karl F. Inderfurth
India's Stake in a Stable Pakistan by Sunil Khilnani and Arvind Subramanian

TWQ: Under the Shrinking U.S. Security Umbrella: India’s End Game in Afghanistan? - Spring 2011

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On December 24, 1998, five Pakistani terrorists associated with Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI)—a Pakistani jihadist organization—hijacked an Indian Airlines flight in Kathmandu with the goal of exchanging three Pakistani terrorists held in Indian jails for the surviving passengers.

Measuring Perceptions about the Pashtun People

jdunton — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Afghanistan and Pakistan are sites of intense conflict—and intense international interest.

PacNet #14 - Logic may help: Pakistan and the FMCT

bMizuno — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

In its first meeting of the year, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) again fell prey to Pakistan’s opposition to the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). The resolution on the ‘Programme of Work’ for the commencement of negotiations could not be agreed since the 64-member CD works on consensus.

A Threat Transformed

jdunton — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

TWQ: Caught in the Muddle: America’s Pakistan Strategy - Winter 2011

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

President Obama has placed Pakistan at the center of his administration’s foreign policy agenda. Islamabad is a pivotal player in Afghanistan and its decisions will have much to do with whether and how U.S. forces can leave that country.

TWQ: Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Strategy: Separating Friends from Enemies - Winter 2011

asnyder — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

On October 1, 2010, the government of Pakistan shut down the supply route for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) after an incursion into Pakistan’s territory by NATO forces, killing 16 Pakistanis in collateral damage. Two days later, militants torched 28 NATO supply trucks near Shikarpur in the southern province of Sindh.

TWQ: Caught in the Muddle: America’s Pakistan Strategy - Winter 2011

asnyder — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Missing an Opportunity for Building Governance in Post-flood Pakistan

sherry — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Given that the Pakistani government’s handling of the Kashmir earthquake was somewhat of a highpoint in the context of a rather dismal national governance record, there was initial hope, however cautious, that the disaster recovery process in Pakistan might broaden opportunities for building democracy in this chronically unsteady nation.

America’s Wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, And Iraq

amausner — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Attached at http://csis.org/files/publication/101213_Iraq_and_Afghan_Talk_Edited.pdf is a speech given to the discusses the Industrial College of the Armed Forces on December 10th, 2010. It discisses the December Review from a grand strategic viewpoint, as well as the conflict in Iraq. These issue

South Asia Monitor: The Inside Pages: An Analysis of the Pakistani Press

udukkipati — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Pakistan’s press enjoys a wide measure of freedom, though unofficial norms backed up by informal pressure restrict criticism of the Pakistan Army. The Urdu press provides a window on the views available to a mass audience in Pakistan that should worry U.S. policymakers.

The War in Afghanistan

amausner — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Recent reporting by the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) and the Department of Defense provides added insight into how the course of the fighting tracks with the development of Afghan security forces.

Afghan National Security Forces

jdunton — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0500

President Barack Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan is critically dependent on the transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). His speech announcing this strategy called for the transfer to begin in mid-2011.

Afghanistan and the December Review

amausner — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0400

One should never judge whether the glass is half empty or half full while it is still being poured. The review of progress in Afghanistan due in December 2010 is definitely a case of prematurely assessing the situation and can provide only a limited picture of whether the new strategy will work.