The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health emergency but a multi-dimensional crisis for Afghanistan, casting “a huge shadow” over daily lives, Deborah Lyons, newly appointed head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan told the Security Council on Thursday, June 25.
Nepal recently reiterated its progressive approach to gender diversity and self-determination by allowing people to identify as the third gender in census forms. It is a move that is bound to have a positive impact on LGBTQ+ social inclusion and is one of the many ways in which South Asia adopts a forward-looking perspective on gender identity.
The implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the increasing Chinese presence in Pakistan is a matter of domestic and regional concern.
Between Afghanistan and Pakistan there are probably a record number of organizations dedicated to terrorist activities, some hundreds if even the smallest ones are counted. In practice, the 'terrorists' of Afghanistan and Pakistan can be grouped into five groups:
• The Afghan Taliban, involved in terrorist activities mainly through the Haqqani network, which operate against Western presence in Afghanistan and against the Afghans accused of collaborating with them;
To resolve "historical misunderstandings" and end the longstanding "undeclared state of war" with Pakistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made what was seen as a contentious, groundbreaking attempt to reconcile with a country many Afghans see as their enemy.
Pakistan’s armed forces are among the most modern, largest and well funded in the world. Within them, the army is the largest unit and the most powerful institution in the country. In the late 1950s, it became a key political force and increasingly infiltrated the economy. Its penetration into crucial political decision-making became entrenched in the ’80s, while the greatest penetration into the economy and society took place in following decade, and has not been reversed to date. In the paper we will see how the army turned into a key player on the political scene and came to control a wide economic sector, what factors may have contributed to its “over-development” and what are its implications.
Abstract
The western province of Pakistan, Balochistan, has been torn by separatist insurgencies since its annexation into the new born Muslim state in 1948. As the current conflict, which exploded in 2005, has now become less intensive, military actions have also changed their character. There is no open war in the traditional sense but there are new problems, like enforced disappearances, kill and dump operations, death squads, extrajudicial and target killing, which strike Balochistan. A famous phrase of the former president Pervez Mush
A series of lectures held by international guests and addressed to experts and academics, dealing with a variety of issues concerning the evolution of regional and global scenarios.
With four events starting from May, the focus of our upcoming series will be the "Great Middle East".
The event has been held in Milan, ISPI (Via Clerici, 5).
Addressed to academics, researchers, journalists, students and doctoral candidates.
For any further information please contact:
Sub-national identities are politically relevant in many Asian and African countries, irrespective to their political system. The vote tends to be guided by clanic, ethnic, religious or regional identities, and political parties are organized along primordial loyalties. Identity politics is invoked to justify ingrained power relations or, for those groups who are discriminated against and excluded from economic and political power, to further their interests.
Abstract
