Traditional equations in South Asia are shifting and the region is approaching a binary of US-India and China-Pakistan as the major local power blocs.

Confirming Mullah Mansour’s death, the Taliban have announced Mawlawi Hebatullah Akhundzada as their new leader. A statement on their website reiterates the terrorist group’s insistence on violence.

For many years U.S. officials have expressed anger at Pakistan over its relationship with the Taliban and other terrorist groups. In a Senate hearing in 2011, Admiral Mike Mullen condemned Pakistan’s support for terrorism and testified that the country’s Inter-Services ...

Whilst al-Qaeda has never been a particularly centralised organisation, in recent years it appears to have shifted from a model of a centralised franchise, which supports other groups to carry out attacks in their name, to a fractured structure of regional groups, each with its own internal politics and personal missions.

Many filed Pakistan under 'basket case' years ago and stopped trying to rationalise developments in that country. Sadly, for others, that isn't an option. What is taking place is tragic, absurd, and frightening.