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 ...

By Jonathan Kay Al-Qaeda's freelance structure has little appeal to Iran, which is a top-down theocracy that prefers to operate through similarly organized, elite... "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," is how the expression goes. And, fittingly enough, it apparently originated with an old Arabic proverb. But where the anti-American jihadism of al-Qaeda and Iran are concerned, things have never quite worke ...

By Karen DeYoung After meeting for more than three hours here Wednesday with Afghan and Pakistani leaders, Secretary of State John F. Kerry reported progress in relaunching negotiations but warned, “We’re not going to raise expectations or promise results that can’t be delivered.” Instead, Kerry said before boarding a plane to return to Washington, the leaders agreed to “underpromise but deliver.” “We’re al ...

By Sonya Rehman From current affairs to social issues and human interest stories, Pakistani journalist Kiran Nazish has written for Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Forbes  and a host of other local and foreign publications on hard-hitting socio-political issues and poignant stories of those affected by war. In an interview with The Diplomat, Nazish speaks about the challenges of being a female journalist in Pak ...