Pakistan’s Pashtun Challenge: Moving from Confrontation to Integration The Pashtun populations of Afghanistan and Pakistan have long been a source of bilateral contention, with each government inciting Pashtun tribals against the other. Now that the majority of Pashtuns live in Pakistan, Islamabad is using its Pashtun connections to project influence into Afghanistan. As a result, both Afghanistan and Pakistan are threatened by runaway Pashtun militancy. Peace and stability in both countries will be impossible until political reforms have been implemented in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Robert Boggs | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
India amidst Increased Activity in the Security Council: A Few Observations Article 1 of the United Nations Charter declares the maintenance of international peace and security to be the primary function of the United Nations. This makes the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) the most important organ of the whole establishment. All other functions and engagements of the United Nations are in support of the primary cause. Saurabh Mishra | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Asymmetric Warfare: A View from India Coined a few years ago, ‘asymmetric warfare’ is an umbrella term that includes insurgent and terrorist campaigns that Western militaries were forced to contend with in the course of external interventions. Asymmetric wars for Western countries are wars of choice, not wars of necessity. S. Kalyanaraman | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Should India ‘Be East’ or Be Eurasian? The recent fad among Western security commentaries is to portray India as a natural member of East Asian political life. Zorawar Daulet Singh | January 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Reopening the Debate on Limited War The commentary makes the case for reopening the Limited War debate in order to inform explicit articulation of a Limited War doctrine. Ali Ahmed | February 29, 2012 | IDSA Comments
Anti-Talk ULFA Faction: Why a Comeback is Unlikely Given the hostility of Assamese society to indiscriminate violence and the sullied image of the ULFA leaders due to their amassing of wealth through extortions, the anti-talk ULFA faction would not be able to make a determined come back. Namrata Goswami | February 29, 2012 | IDSA Comments
Tougher US Sanctions against Iran: Global Reactions and Implications US President Barak Obama recently signed a tougher sanctions law against Iran in a continuing bid to coerce Tehran into abandoning its nuclear programme. This Backgrounder discusses the reactions of the emerging powers to the new sanctions and their implications. M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi | February 28, 2012 | Backgrounder
Obama and the Israel-Palestine Peace Process The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is so dependent on the vagaries of the US political and electoral system that any change in administration in November 2012 would certainly make or delay the implementation of the steps necessary to secure lasting peace. Sam Kuruvilla | February 27, 2012 | IDSA Comments
Growing Maoist Activism in Assam: Sinister and Calculated Moves Although law enforcement agencies have been receiving timely reports about growing Maoist activities in Assam, it appears that they do not pay much attention to the issue. Nihar R. Nayak | February 24, 2012 | IDSA Comments
A Gloomy Syrian Scenario Overthrowing Bashar is likely to result in an Islamist regime, which might turn out to be far worse for the country’s Kurdish, Christian, Druze and Armenian minorities. Jagdish N Singh | February 24, 2012 | IDSA Comments
