South Asia

Afghanistan and Pakistan returned to prominence in 2008 after several years on the periphery.

US President George Bush is now calling Pakistan one of three “theatres” in the War on Terror, and authorising deadly raids into its territory.

Foreign journalists are under mounting pressure from their editors to secure interviews with central figures in Al Qaeda…

Never have the effects of terrorism been so directly felt in the heartland of the Pakistan establishment, and never have the challenges for the Government of Pakistan in crafting a response been so difficult.

The ancient temples around Durbar Square in Kathmandu flutter with pigeons and prayer flags as tourists mill around and hippies blow smoke down Freak Street.

On a motorcycle tour through India in August 2001, Australian paramedic Benjamin Gilmour and his girlfriend decided to venture into a country they knew nearly nothing about – Pakistan.

Proponents of genetically modified (GM) cotton, claim that India’s so called GM Green Revolution has been a huge success.

If you ask foreign policy wonks in New Delhi what they think of India’s ties to Australia, there usually follows a brief, slightly perplexed silence.

This is Pakistan 2008, after eight years of military rule and fancy economic growth figures: under-heated and under-fed in its coldest winter in two decades.

Daily Star columnist Harun Rashid considers Sino-India ties and the prospects for future co-operation between the two nations.