US-Pakistan Counter-Terrorism Cooperation: Dynamics and Challenges Pakistan is a frontline ally of the US in its Global War on Terrorism. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, the military regime was compelled by Washington to join the US effort to dismantle the Taliban-Al Qaida terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan and Pakistan that successive regimes had nurtured. While the Pakistani military regime’s cooperation is deemed to be crucial for the success of the US counter-terrorism strategy, there appear to be growing strains and challenges that give rise to fundamental questions about the outcomes of such cooperation. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Africa and China: A Strategic Partnership? Relations between Africa and China have increased over the year and become more dominated by China’s economic interests. With an annual growth rate of 8-9 per cent , and a booming economy, China’s dependency on accessing natural resources is a top priority and has accordingly expanded its horizons. Africa, with all its seemingly unlimited natural resources, is an ideal partner. In addition, the African continent as a whole offers a potential market for china’s low value manufactured commodities. Judith van de Looy , Leo de Haan | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Challenges to Peace Negotiations: The Sri Lankan Experience The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is a good example of how peace Sukanya Podder | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Environmental Stresses and their Security Implications for South Asia In discussing the dynamics of contemporary conflicts, scholars, over the last decade, have focused on the ‘interconnectivity’ between environmental factors and violent conflict—for example between migration and environmental mismanagement, debt and violence and between ethnic conflict and resource disputes. Such an approach corresponds to the post-Cold War reexamination and redefinition of security in more comprehensive conceptual terms. Uttam Kumar Sinha | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Japan’s Security Concerns and Policy Responses Japanese foreign policy and security perceptions have undergone a perceptible and steady change over the past decade, especially under the leadership of former Prime Minister Koizumi (2001-2006). Its support for the US war on terror was a significant step in its growing international politico-security profile. Arpita Mathur | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Nawab Bugti’s Assassination: Future Portents “I have been a Baloch for several centuries. I have been a Muslim for 1400 years. I have been a Pakistani for just over fifty”, Alok Bansal | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Terror Trends: Mega Cities, Maximum Impact The security environment of India is in a critical phase, repeatedly challenged by terrorism, with outfits operating out of Pakistan continuing to be highly active and finding new and unexpected targets. Trend analyses over the years indicate that the targets, motives and operatives have changed. Terrorist attacks are no more targeted mainly at security forces and government establishments, but have expanded to include strikes against India’s economic and strategic assets. T. Khurshchev Singh | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
The Essence of the South Asian Nuclear Debate Scott D. Sagan, Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons A Debate Renewed With New Sections on India and Pakistan, Terrorism, and Missile Defence (New York: W W Norton and Company, 2003). Namrata Goswami | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
The Dark Side of the West’s Global War on Terror Craig Murray, Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror (Mainstream Publishing Company Edinburgh, 2006), pp. 400 Ramakant Dwivedi | July 2006 | Strategic Analysis
Million Mutinies in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas The tribal terrain in Pakistan is in a state of turmoil. As the Pakistani Taliban gradually emerge, many analysts have pointed out that the terrain has traditionally been home to orthodoxy over the centuries and nourished rebels like Sayiid Ahmad, Faqir of Ippi, Nek Muhammad, Abdul Mehsud and now Mullah Dadullah. Ashok K. Behuria | June 27, 2006 | IDSA Comments