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The Pulse
South Asia is a story of promise and peril where Asia’s conflicting forces of modernity and reaction meet head on. Home to a multitude of different cultures, ethnicities, and religions, The Diplomat's regional correspondents and experts will provide the insight you need to navigate one of the world's most consequential regions.
The TTP Has Redefined Its Goals: Should Pakistan Be Worried?
By Umair Jamal
In a recent interview, TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud called for an independent state in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Taliban Complete Northeast Afghan Blitz as More Cities Fall
By Tameem Akhgar and Jon Gambrell
After a 20-year Western military mission and billions of dollars spent training and shoring up Afghan forces, many are at odds to explain that collapse.
Can the US Isolate the Taliban?
By Catherine Putz
The answer is less clear now, in 2021, than it was in 1996.
India’s Marathon Diplomacy With Iran
By Amalendu Misra
Why is India cozying up to Iran?
Afghan Provincial Capitals On the Brink as Taliban Make Advances
By Catherine Putz
In the span of three days, at least four provincial capitals in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, with the strategically significant city of Kunduz on the brink.
Indian and Chinese Troops Disengage from Gogra
By Sudha Ramachandran
The establishment of buffer zones in areas of disengagement is eating into territory formerly under Indian control.
Sexual Violence Against India’s Most Vulnerable
By Bansari Kamdar
A Dalit girl was gang-raped, murdered and forcibly cremated in New Delhi.
Nepal’s Once-and-Future Prime Minister: What to Expect From Deuba’s Foreign Policy
By Kamal Dev Bhattarai
Managing relations with great powers will remain a key foreign policy challenge for Nepal’s new prime minister.
Pakistan’s Hindu Temple Ransacking Has Deep Ideological Roots
By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
Pakistan’s anti-Hindu bigotry remains uniquely institutionalized.
Taliban Gun Down, Kill Afghan Government Media Official
By Tameem Akhgar and Kathy Gannon
The assassination took place during weekly Friday prayers.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi’s Reported Remark Triggers a Storm
By Umair Jamal
The remark prompted Afghans to mock him for acting as the Taliban’s spokesperson.
Airstrikes Pummel Taliban Positions in Southern Afghanistan
By Tameem Akhgar and Rahim Faiez
Meanwhile, Taliban forces close in on a district center in the north.