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Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani's Independence Day address at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, attracted widespread comments, mostly positive. In fact, Gen Kayani's speech eclipsed the standard presidential address on the occasion in the media.

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, faces formidable challenges. For now, the most difficult one may yet be mollifying his restive fellow Pashtuns who have suffered grievously in the Army’s anti-terror operations in the country’s tribal regions.

Assumptions are a necessary part of statecraft and military planning. However, there are dangers in making incorrect presuppositions, especially those related to social, cultural or quasi-cultural aspects of an adversary that are then predicted to have an impact on military-political outcomes. This paper examines some of the most common political-military assumptions about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army that are inherently problematic, as

There are strong indicators of a regionally dominant People's Liberation Army of China attempting for an expeditionary status, says Mr. Abraham M. Denmark, Vice President of the National Bureau of Asian Research.

Since 2015, China has been undertaking a thorough restructuring of its military, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. This has involved significant changes in the operational structure of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with the modernisation and optimisation of the military to bring about better jointness and overall efficiency. This paper examines the PLA reforms as they pertain to training and jointness in the Tibet Autonomous R

It is high time that enlightened Pakistanis realize that the real threat to the existence of the Pakistani state comes from their own army which has usurped authority due to debilitated political institutions and geo-political concerns of western powers.

Asif Ali Zardari, 53, the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is not new to politics, nor is he to the Machiavellian twists and turns necessary to survive in the intensely fratricidal politics of Pakistan where the final shots are called by the Chief of Army Staff.

Army and the intelligence agencies have always shaped the political process in Pakistan and things won't be any different after the 2007 general election ---- President Pervez Musharraf is all set for his re-election in 2007. He has already declared his intention to be re-elected by the present set of elected representatives.

The speed with which the ISIS initially overran an Iraqi army trained and equipped by the Americans causes some concern about the fate of similar armies trained and equipped by the Americans in the region. For instance, the Afghanistan army and its implications for India.

Pakistan has not given up the use of terrorist groups like Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) to achieve its foreign policy objectives in India and Afghanistan, a policy which threatens to make Asia, and the world, more unsafe in the years to come. JuD, parent body of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), is a highly organised, trans-national terrorist group based in Pakistan which has links not only with Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency,

Delhi is aware that the Pak army continues to wield a veto over cooperation with India and the room for manoeuvre is limited for the civilian leaders. Yet India must encourage the leaders of the Punjab to intensify their engagement. Delhi must also strive to improve coordination and consultation with the state leadership in Punjab.

Army's decision to acknowledge a mistake in the killing of two young men in Budgam earlier this month, and the sentence to the Rajput regiment personnel, are an important first step. The people know that we cannot turn back time or get back their loved ones, but an acknowledgement of the truth of what happened helps in the healing process.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the ISI HQ at Aabpara, Islamabad, on July 11 has raised eyebrows over its timing and content. Sharif and his ministerial colleagues stayed at the ISI HQ for five hours and were briefed by the chiefs of the Army and the ISI.

The one thing Nawaz Sharief should do on day one is to issue an order placing the ISI under civilian leadership. This will de-fang the Army of the most potent instrument it uses to distort Pakistani democracy.

India’s border dispute with China, which goes back to the 1950s, primarily owes to the absence of an internationally accepted boundary between them, and of an agreement on where runs the Line of Actual Control. The border, as a result, is patrolled and managed by the military forces of both sides. After initial efforts to resolve the dispute failed, the two sides signed a set of agreements aimed at stabilising the LAC and normalising their rela

The past decade has witnessed the proliferation of small satellite technology in various domains including the military, academe and commerce. is paper explores the idea of utilising small satellites technology (of the order weighing less than 150kg) for specic aspects of India's space security interests. It will describe some of the programmes and missions of global leaders in space security, and examine specic applications of small satellite te

The first cabinet reshuffle is intimation of the govt's impending demise. The army has taken back control of vital portfolios. They will find a new puppet PM. Till then, Imran Khan's options are severely limited.

With the stalemate on the judicial restoration continuing, the focus was back on the man who is responsible for most of the mess Pakistan is in today. President Pervez Musharraf¿s three-and-a-half-hour meeting with Army Chief, General Ashfaq Kayani,

The integration of the People's Liberation Army of the Maoists into the Nepal Army (NA) continues to remain a contentious issue. While, all the big parties namely the Nepali Congress and the CPN-Unified Marxist Leninist have stressed

After eight years of ruling Pakistan, former Army Chief and President Pervez Musharraf stepped down on August 18, 2008. It was amidst growing speculation and doubt that Musharraf, facing a possible impeachment in the National Assembly, announced the decision to quit in his last Address to the Nation.

With Sri Lankan Army just two miles away from the de facto capital of the LTTE, Kilinochchi has turned into a ghost town. Most of the civilians have fled along with many humanitarian organisations leaving the LTTE cadres to carry out the counter-attacks.

The Taliban has renewed its activities in Peshawar. The Taliban militants and its allies have carried out a series of kidnappings and attacks on foreign nationals in the area recently to establish its presence, and taunt the Pakistan Army engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the nearby Bajaur and Mohmand.

On his 54th birthday, LTTE supremo Prabhakaran made the Heroes Day speech even as the Kilinochhi, the de facto administrative capital of the Tigers is within an arms reach of the Sri Lankan Army. The speech lacked assertive tone

Even as the war between LTTE and the Sri Lankan army is taking a heavy humanitarian toll, European Union decided to retain its GSP+ trade preferences for Sri Lanka till the time it completes its humanitarian probe in the troubled region.

The week saw India, specifically Tamil Nadu, adopting a rigid stand against the remarks made by the Sri Lankan Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka during his interview with Sunday Leader. In his interview, Fonseka described Tamil Nadu politicians like Nedumaran and Vaiko as "jokers".

As the army advanced deeper into Mullaithivu to regain other territories under the LTTE control, rumours of Prabhakaran's escape to another country have strongly surfaced. Most believe that he could have either fled via sea to Eritrea, Australia and Myanmar or he may have not been able to flee at all.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Kayani has issued statement to pull armed forces out from the mire of politics in which they have become entrenched. The latest statement by the COAS came at a corps commander's conference held in Rawalpindi.

In Sri Lanka, everybody is uncertain about the future. Nobody knows what happens next. Take for instance, the victory march of Sri Lankan Army (SLA) which was once again bogged down by the LTTE's resurgence. Though the week started with the forward march of the Sri Lanka defence forces after the killing of the three senior female LTTE leaders at sea including Lt. Colonel Kalai Arasi,

Twenty-three candidates, including current President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former army general Sanath Fonseka, filed their nomination papers for the presidential elections to be held on January 26, 2010.

Sri Lankan authorities criticised the latest move by the international community, particularly the US, to 'interview' war hero former army chief General Sarath Fonseka about events that led to the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the death of its leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) officially admitted that their chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran "attained martyrdom" while trying to escape the last Tiger stronghold of Mullaithivu, where the LTTE top leadership had holed up in a final stand against the advancing Sri Lankan army.

Afghan National Army soldiers in Oruzgan province surrendered and gave up their military base to the Taliban and other South Asian roundups

Whether or not the Sri Lankan Army Chief, Lt-Gen Sarath Fonseka, was the intended target of the suicide-attack on the Army Headquarters in Colombo on Tuesday, 25 April 2006, the LTTE may have won the ¿psychological war¿, one more time. The death of 10 persons

As evolved in the US and the UK, an Integrated Defence Staff, in which 'army controls army', is the need of the hour for better implementation of required reforms. This weakness can be resolved only through a constitutional amendment or to the Rules of Business of the Government, or both, says Lt-Gen. S. Pattabhiraman (Retd).

Better sense must prevail and both India and Pakistan must avoid serious conflict that will hardly help either. True progress will happen when Pakistan starts to wind up its terror factory

The focus on the Henderson-Brooks report creates a bias in our minds that the failure of 1962 was that of the Army. Perhaps that is what the babus and politicians wanted. In fact, the real failure was of the Nehru government's China policy and the management of that policy.

Small satellites have gained considerable importance in recent years. Although small spacecraft have existed for decades, their military applications have recently gained prominence owing to technological advances in their development and integration into the armed services of the major spacefaring countries across the world. This paper analyses the significance of small satellites in the C4ISR capabilities of the three service branches of the In

Despite former President Musharraf's departure, neither the ISI nor the Army, could disengage itself from its dream - strategic depth in Afghanistan.

India’s decision to abolish cantonments after carving out the military areas, announced in April 2023, has been met with scepticism and support. Cantonments, primarily created during the British rule to station and house the military, evolved to include civilians as residents and staff to provide support and logistic services. Over time, cantonment boards, with some civilian members, were created to manage the civil areas, but the rights of civ

An imprisoned Imran Khan directing street protests is a thorn in Pakistan army’s side. The political instability deepens Islamabad’s ‘polycrisis’

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has historically been a key instrument of state power in modern China, from the time founder Mao Zedong famously said that power flows “from the barrel of a gun.” Today, in the era of Xi Jinping, China is strengthening its defence diplomacy through Xi’s so-called Global Security Initiative (GSI) that envisions a growing role for the Party-state’s arms like the PLA and the Ministry of Public Security. T

After PM Nawaz Sharief's visit to the US, now General Raheel Sharif will be visiting the country. Gen. Sharif has seemingly controlled terror emanating from FATA, has restored the image of the Army after the setbacks during the time of his predecessors Musharraf and Kayani. He runs a quasi-independent judicial system.