By Alireza Nader The Islamic Republic of Iran is a crucial player in the current Syrian conflict. Iran is the Syrian regime's biggest supporter, even more so than Russia. Tehran's ties with Damascus have historically been based on shared strategic interests, including thwarting U.S. and Israeli power in the Middle East. Both countries have also relied on each other to balance unfriendly Arab states. The Syr ...

By Robert D. Kaplan The most appropriate image of the present-day Middle East is the medieval map, which, in the words of the late historian Albert Hourani, depicts an age when "frontiers were not clearly and precisely delimited" and the influence of a regime was not uniform "within a fixed and generally recognized area," but, rather, grew weaker with distance as it radiated outward from an urban core. Lega ...

By Abdul Majid Zargar In-spite of a massive force build-up and despite adoption of “ Shock & awe” theory and thousands of Drone attacks backed up by latest technology, a defeat stares in the face of America in Afghanistan. Its troop withdrawal plan by the end of 2014 is an organized retreat, if not a total surrender. And this defeat has not made appearance out of thin air. Washington has known for years ...

I.A Rehman GEN Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s warning against separating Islam from Pakistan’s polity or politics should not surprise anyone because Islam has been used as a battle cry by almost all Muslim warriors across the globe and throughout the ages, even when both sides have recited the same Kalima and the issue is nothing more than ownership of the throne or a piece of land. Also not surprising is the way t ...

Posted by Sumera    Through a pre-emptive strategy, India is trying to convince the world in general and Afghan neighbors in particular that, its collaboration with the later aims at securing its soil from foreign invasions and attacks, which have taken place historically. In this context, the statement of Indian external Affairs Ministry spokesperson is very evident once he said, “There is a history of Afg ...

Posted by Sumera A high-powered US delegation had a detailed meeting with the COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other officials including foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani and discussed Afghan peace dialogue. Pakistan and the United States reiterated their commitment to take the ongoing Afghan reconciliation process forward through meaningful dialogue and by addressing concerns of all major stakehol ...

By Scott Wilson and Greg Miller The injured suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that he and his brother were driven by hard-line Islamist views and anger over the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but had no ties to foreign militant groups, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The statements made by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, from his hospital bed provide what authorities described as the cle ...

By David Ignatius The growing evidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against its own population provides an opportunity for the United States and Russia, the two countries that have the most influence over the situation, to jointly force President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power. A senior Israeli military officer told several journalists here today that he’s “very close to 100 percent ...