It is amazing yet somehow impressive how Washington manages in such a convoluted fashion to make so many countries irritated and resentful. There’s an art in it, really. Take the case of Turkey, Pakistan and pilot training. Following an attempted coup in Turkey last year its air force ran short of pilots, which wasn’t surprising…
In the days since President Trump came down hard on Pakistan in his speech outlining America’s new Afghanistan strategy, the reaction in Islamabad—and elsewhere across the country—has been predictably angry and defiant. Pakistan’s National Security Committee, a group of top government and military officials, rejected Trump’s allegations—ones also made by many American leaders before him—that…
The annual BRICS summit in Xiamen – where President Xi Jinping was once mayor – could not intervene in a more incandescent geopolitical context. Once again, it’s essential to keep in mind that the current core of BRICS is “RC”; the Russia-China strategic partnership. So in the Korean peninsula chessboard, RC context – with both…
The cooperation between the US and Pakistan has recently been put to the test as Donald Trump accused Islamabad of supporting terrorists. In response, the Pakistani authorities canceled a planned visit by a representative of the State Department. Sputnik attempts to identify the real reason behind the fall out between the two long-term allies? On…
The geographic location of Afghanistan has always occupied a central role in many geopolitical studies. Donald Trump’s reasons for reinforcing US troops in the region are driven by the continuing US need to prevent a complete Eurasian integration among regional powers. The April peace talks between Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Russia and China seemed to have put…
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama wanted Islamabad to be more assertive against terrorist groups too. While there are a lot of missing pages in President Donald Trump’s new policy on Afghanistan (how many U.S. troops will be deployed; how much will this all cost; what conditions does he expect the Afghan government to…
