Current Projects
Where does Pakistan fit in Russia’s South Asia strategy?
Ever since the Cold War, relations between Moscow and Islamabad have remained weak. Back then during the time of bipolarity, Pakistan was a close ally of the United States while India mainly sided with the Soviet Union. Moscow and Islamabad were involved in military activities against each other with devastating consequences. In 1971 the Soviet Union supplied weapons and helped to arrange training camps for the Mukti Bahini guerrilla resistance movement in East Pakistan (as described by Ex-Soviet KGB foreign intelligence chief Leonid Shebarshin and Indian Intelligence Bureau officer Malloy Krishna Dhar). Moscow contributed to Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war and the emergence of Bangladesh as a state. Pakistan became a key supplying hub for weapons and fighters during the 1979-1989 war in Afghanistan and the main training field for jihadists. This war contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR there was no reason for Russia and Pakistan to avoid each other. Despite welcoming signals from Islamabad, Russian leaders were slow in their moving towards Pakistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin never visited Pakistan and it was only on Apr. 11, 2007, 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when then Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov visited Islamabad. Moving towards cooperation The decision to facilitate cooperation between Russia and Pakistan was long expected. It was made only recently, in 2014, and resulted in the visit of the Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu to Islamabad on Nov. 20, 2014. After that both countries passed a number of milestones. Minister Shoygu signed an agreement on military cooperation. The two countries agreed on delivery of four Mi-35M Hind-E combat helicopters. They may arrive in Pakistan later this year. In 2016 the Kalashnikov Concern participated in the trials for a main new assault rifle for Pakistan's infantry. The media in both countries reported about possible deals on additional...
CHINA WATCH [JANUARY 10-16] SECURITY OF THE CHINA-PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC)
Developments regarding the security of CPEC were the prominent news of this week. China handed over two ships to Pakistan for the joint security of CPEC sea route. Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong, conveyed China’s satisfaction on security arrangements for CPEC. The English daily, The Express Tribune, reported that the government of Pakistan has been thinking over the idea of treating the Chinese funding under CPEC as FDI. A report of China Central Television (CCTV) said that China’s exports to Pakistan have considerably increased in the aftermath of launching of CPEC. A bench of Peshawar High Court gave the prime minister and planning, development and reforms division a fortnight to come up with answer to a petition filed by KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiar. Ships for Gwadar Port: China handed over two ships to Pakistan for the joint security of CPEC sea route.[1] The ships which were built in China and equipped with the state-of-art guns were handed over to Pakistan Navy in a ceremony at Gwadar port.[2] These ships are named as Hingol and Bisol after the two nearby rivers. In addition to these two ships, China plans to give Pakistan two more ships for the same purpose. These ships are under construction in China and will be named as Dasht and Zhob.[3] Pakistan and China are cautious about the security of Gwadar port particularly against the backdrop of India’s increasingly assertive regional diplomacy. New Delhi has, on the one hand, shown serious reservations against the CPEC and on the other, ramped up its strategic cooperation with Washington. The U.S. has been keen on countering China through India’s rise in the India Ocean. It is under these circumstances that China and Pakistan are increasing their naval cooperation to secure Gwadar port from any challenge that might emanate from the Indian Ocean. CPEC funds as FDI: The English daily, The Express Tribune, reported that the government of Pakistan has been thinking over the idea of treating the...
Sabawoon Showcase: Local Sports and Need for their Revival
January 12, 2017, Peshawar: The latest episode of Sabawoon[i], flagship radio program of Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), was about the significance of local games and need for their revival. The discussion shed light on different traditional and local sports in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), role of sports in promoting peace and harmony, impact of terrorism on local sports, and the role of sports department in promoting the spirit of games among youth. Furthermore, the program highlighted the adverse effects of social media and technology-based games on youth’s interest in sports. The program was aired under the theme of Ranra (light) on Thursday. Mr. Islam Gul Afridi, journalist from Khyber Agency, was the show guest. A radio report discussed the importance of sports for society and individual’s health. It also analyzed factors behind the decline of local games. Five callers participated live in the show. They expressed their views about the local games from different angles. Mr. Islam said: “Traditional sports are the identity of our society. Parents, sports department, and government should collectively work for their revival.” Sabawoon airs Monday through Thursday on FM-101.5 Peshawar & DI Khan 711 KHZ from 3:20 PM to 4:00 PM. [i] Sabawoon is a flagship radio program by CRSS in the KP/FATA region, designed to highlight local issues, and promote fundamental global values such as women’s rights, rule of law, equal citizenry, democracy, governance and accountability. It airs four times a week, under four themes. On Monday, Jarga Marrakka covers current affairs and issues, coupled with government and other senior officials. On Tuesday, Da Semi Jaaj gives a holistic regional overview of the most important stories across the length and breadth of KP/FATA. On Wednesday, Jwandai Jazbey covers issues most important to youth, students and females. Finally, on Thursday, Ranra covers social issues that...
Afghanistan: US Marines Headed Back to Helmand Province
Approximately 300 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan's Helmand Province this spring, returning to the scene of some of the fiercest battles in America's 15-year-long engagement there. The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert Neller, said Thursday that the troops have "no delusions about the difficulty and the challenges they're going to face." The Marines will be tasked with training and advising Afghan soldiers and police in the volatile opium-rich province. Afghan security forces there have been locked in constant clashes with Taliban insurgents, who have managed to reestablish a significant presence. Helmand sits in the country's southwest. While geographically large, it is very rural and contains only about 3% of the Afghan population. "The enemy has fought hard for Helmand," Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon last month. Nicholson said the Taliban "receive much of their funding from the narcotics trafficking that occurs out of Helmand," adding that "there's a nexus here between the insurgency and criminal networks that's occurring in Helmand that makes Helmand such a difficult fight." "This is a mission we've always been ready for," Lt. Gen. William Beydler, who oversees Marines in the region, told reporters last week. The contingent of Marines will replace US Army advisers currently carrying out the mission, forming "Task Force Southwest," to be commanded by Brig. Gen. Roger Turner Jr. "They continue to need international support," Turner said of the Afghan troops, noting that US personnel would be focusing on intelligence and logistics advice. Some of the troops will be operating in the vicinity of Camp Leatherneck, the one-time home of thousands of Marines in Afghanistan. "The Marine Corps has a deep operational history in Afghanistan, particularly Helmand Province," Turner said, with Beydler noting that Marines first deployed to the province in 2001 and later fought battles against...
Waiting for Release: Will Afghans cleared to leave Guantanamo get out before Trump gets in?
American president-elect Donald Trump has said that no more detainees should be transferred out of America’s war on terror detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. He takes office on 20 January 2017, which leaves the Obama administration just a few days to get men cleared for transfer out of Cuba. Among those waiting to see if their cases go through in time are three Afghans, money changer Wali Mohammed, chokidar Abdul Zahir and seller of plastic flowers Bostan Karim. All have been in detention since 2002 and, AAN’s Kate Clark reports, the cases against them were always among the flimsiest. When Obama came into office in 2009, he vowed to close Guantanamo down. Congress blocked this, stopping him from transferring detainees to the American mainland for trial or incarceration. His only success has been in reducing the population; it should be down from 242 in 2009 to, if all goes to plan, around 40 by 20 January 2017 when he leaves the White House. Anyone remaining after that, it would seem from Trump’s statements on Guantanamo, is likely to be there a very long time. During the election campaign, he praised the detention camp, saying he would like to bring more detainees there. (He also praised waterboarding, although he said it was not “tough enough” and even if it did not work, he would authorise it because “they deserve it anyway for what they do to us.”) Then, on 3 January 2017, Trump tweeted that no more detainees should be transferred; they were “extremely dangerous people,” he said and “should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.” Prisoners cleared for transfer In mid-December 2016, there were still 22 detainees who had been cleared for transfer by a body known as the Periodic Review Board – which can also order the continuing detention or military trial of detainees. The New York Times reported that the US government had found countries willing to take 17 or 18 of them: The effort was part of a burst of urgent, high-level diplomatic talks aimed at moving as...
Afghan Weekly (Jan 06 – Jan 12, 2017)
Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat, an Arab newspaper, on Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stressed on the need for Islamic countries to help bring peace in Afghanistan. "We hope that Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, exert pressure on extremist leaders to push them toward reconciliation," he stated while describing Saudi-Afghan relations as strong and essential. He advocated that it was important for Taliban to separate itself from terrorist groups that pose a threat to Islamic nations. Afghans across the board long for peace, Ghani added, and that the Islamic countries should leverage their influence to push extremist leaders towards reconciliation. Commenting on Pakistan, Ghani said that Pakistan’s best interest lies with the Afghan government.[1] Earlier on Monday, General John W Nicholson, Commander Resolute Support Mission and US Forces, in Afghanistan travelled to Pakistan’s North Waziristan border region that until recently was dubbed as an ‘epicenter of global terrorism’. The Pakistan military said that local commanders briefed General John Nicholson on counterterrorism operations and post-conflict social development underway in the area near the Afghan border.[2] On the occasion, Pakistan’s Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa stressed the necessity for setting a "bilateral border security mechanism" between Pakistan and Afghanistan and called for the NATO mission to play its significant role in making it possible. The visiting dignitary recognized the inevitability of bilateral border security coordination.[3] Meanwhile, the Afghan Government signed an $11.4 million contract with a Turkish company on January 07 to build a prefabricated housing factory in the country and, another contract with a Chinese construction firm to build an important road in central Afghanistan – called the Dare-e-Sof and Yakawlang Road project.[4] Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah also headed a high-ranking delegation on visit to Tehran on January 11 to confer with...
Dangerous Nexus
In a latest attack against ethnic minorities, some armed men killed nine Shia Hazara miners in the northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan last Friday. The government blamed the militant Islamic State group for the brazen attack on the coalminers in the Tala Wa Barfak district of central Baghlan province. The incident forced around 2000 Shias to stage a protest in western Afghanistan against the growing sectarian attacks by the group for better protection by the government. The militant Islamic State (IS), better known as Daesh, has been making steady inroads into the country, raising the spectre of sectarian discord in the region. Afghanistan saw a wave of such attacks on the Shia community last year, almost all claimed by the IS. In October 2016, some 14 Shias were killed in a powerful blast at a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif hours after gunmen targeted Shia worshipers in a shrine in Kabul, killing 18 people. Barely a few days into the new year, in a similar move, five members of the Shia Hazara community were injured when gunmen riding two motorbikes sprayed a vehicle near the Killi Mubarak area on Spiny road in Quetta, Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Jhangvie Al Alami was quick to claim the responsibility for the attack. This is not the first such incident. The province has seen a wave of sectarian attacks in the past, most of them claimed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Until a few months ago, the Islamic State was largely confined to the eastern Nangrahar province of Afghanistan that borders Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt. But, of late, the notorious militant organisation has steadily been expanding its operations into other parts of the country. On the Pakistani side of the border, sectarian militant groups has reportedly been expanding its activities across the country. Last week, police sub inspector Iqbal Mehmood was gunned down in Gulshan-e-Johar in Karachi. This was followed by two more consecutive hand grenade attacks that injured constable Muhammad...
Security of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India interlinked: US
The security of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan is interconnected and it will be better for these countries to cooperate with each other in countering terrorism, a US State Department spokesman said. Responding to a question at a briefing at the State Department, Mark Toner said, “Afghanistan’s, security Pakistan’s security and indeed India’s security, they’re all interconnected. And so as much as they can work in tandem or work in a partnership on counterterrorism operations I think it’s for the betterment of the region.” Responding to a question, the spokesman observed that denying safe havens to terrorists had been part of discussion with Pakistan and acknowledged that there had been progress. “We’ve seen them (Pakistan) take some steps to address these safe havens,” he said but maintained that the problem persisted and there was something which was part of ongoing conversation and dialogue between Pakistan and the United States. He, however, acknowledged the difficulties going after the safe havens in the border region with Afghanistan given the remote areas that terrorists were hiding in. The spokesman strongly condemned the Monday’s terrorist attack on the parliamentary buildings in Kabul that killed 38 Afghans and wounded more than 70 people. “The United States stands strongly with the people of Afghanistan and remains firmly committed to building a secure peaceful and prosperous future for Afghanistan,” he added. Replying to another question, he said “There has been a consistent trend of these kinds of senseless acts of violence on the part of the Taliban who have claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul.” He said that the United States did not want to see Afghanistan slide back into what it was. Toner said the US was trying to build the capacity of the Afghan security forces to determine and to provide for the security of the Afghan people. “We’ve also worked hard to foster an Afghan-led peace process which again ultimately is we believe the way...
Russia Returns to Afghanistan
Russia is a great power that retains muscle memory (and a strategic arsenal) from its past superpowerdom. In the Ukraine and Syria, Russia has challenged the United States—its former peer and a hesitant hegemon in decline—through direct military interventions. Additionally, Moscow has impressively deployed hybrid warfare tactics to create the perception that it has influenced the U.S. presidential election and forged a rift between the incoming commander-in-chief and elements of the U.S. intelligence community. Surprisingly, Afghanistan is emerging as another arena in which Moscow is pointedly working at odds with Washington’s interests. Indeed, recent moves by Russia now represent a pivot toward Afghanistan, posing a set of challenges that have been unanticipated by U.S. observers of the region. The incoming Trump Administration ought to be aware of Russia’s newfound assertiveness vis-à-vis Afghanistan, both in the threats it poses as well as the potential opportunities it may present. A Russian About-Face in Afghanistan In late December, Moscow hosted a trilateral dialogue with Beijing and Islamabad on the future of Afghanistan. Importantly, left out of the talks were Kabul, Washington and New Delhi—a historic Russian ally now moving closer to the United States. The joint statement released after the dialogue expressed support for talks with the Afghan Taliban and concern over the spread of Islamic State. The Russo-Sino-Pak trilateral did not emerge out of thin air. It is the latest in a series of Russian efforts to engage both Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban. Together, these moves mark a definitive departure from Moscow’s decades-old policy toward the region. Pakistan was a strong U.S. ally during most of the Cold War, while the Soviet Union had a defense pact with the nominally non-aligned India. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan, in concert with the United States, helped make Afghanistan a graveyard for the Red Army, forcing its withdrawal....
May the Force be With You
KP’s police have geared up to fight terror and crime after Zarb-e-Azb Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has seen a remarkable turnaround in the fight against terrorist and extremist groups in the last couple of years. This province’s geographical location has indeed been a complicating factor ever since the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan and the US-led west responded to that occupation via Pakistan. In addition to having a 1,350 km border with Afghanistan, KP province is surrounded by tribal regions known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Provincially Administered Tribal Areas and the Frontier Regions. All of them are governed by a special set of laws. This unusual geographical proximity to the once virtual “no-go areas” and the Pakistani rulers’ thoughtless use of these regions for anti-Soviet jihad has generated numerous socio-political and economic challenges which gradually eroded the quality and authority of policing in the province. But in this sea of turmoil, and on the back of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, some positives are emerging. Once promised operational autonomy, provincial police chief Nasir Khan Durrani has gone about reforming the force in a professional way. That has also helped align it with the counter-terrorism objectives of Zarb-e-Azb as well as prepare the police to face the consequences of these operations. One of the major ones was the flight of the top leadership of militants and terrorists to Afghanistan and that of their operators to KP’s urban areas. Had they not been busted, arrested or killed, they would have wreaked havoc. It required a special professional response and this is what we have tried to do in the last three years or so, Durrani told TFT. The KP police in fact found itself facing an unprecedented threat since they had been trained only to deal with common criminals. Now they find themselves confronted with a deadly mix of criminal syndicates and trans-border terrorists The KP police in fact found itself...
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TESTIMONIALS
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.