Eurasia

This Week’s Highlights Russia is now supplying more oil to the U.S. than any other foreign producer aside from Canada, Bloomberg reported, noting that U.S. imports of crude and refined petroleum products from its former Cold War adversary surged 23% in May. U.S. imports of Russian goods increased by one …

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, have spoken by telephone about ongoing “strategic stability” talks launched last month after a recent presidential summit. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on August 11 Austin and Shoigu discussed “transparency and risk-reduction efforts following the July 28 resumption of …

With the Taliban sweeping through provincial capitals, and massing near Kabul, the Afghan government is thus far vowing to resist. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Laurel Miller and Andrew Watkins explain that outside powers’ priority should now be to minimise further human suffering. Have the Taliban won the war? …

The Taliban has captured three major Afghan cities and a string of provincial capitals in a sweeping offensive that threatens the capital, Kabul. In the past 24 hours, Taliban fighters have seized Herat and Kandahar — the country’s second- and third-largest cities — as well as Lashkar Gah, the capital …

Taliban fighters carrying out a blitzkrieg-like offensive across Afghanistan appear to have the capital, Kabul, in their sights, advancing toward the city even as the first of thousands of U.S. troops to be sent back to the country set foot on the ground. The Taliban on Friday claimed victory in …

Last month, the Association of Economic Cooperation with African States (AECAS) held a special meeting of the working group on financing projects with participation of the leading Russian companies and banks. The key topic was to find an effective system of financing projects and to support investment in Africa. Lack …

Alarm is growing at the prospect of the Taliban unseating the Kabul government, but that outcome is just one of three scenarios for Afghanistan’s future amid mounting military uncertainty and an unfolding human tragedy. There is no question that momentum is with the Taliban, which have taken more territory in …

On August 2, 2021, one Police constable, identified as Dilawar Khan, was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Police team guarding polio workers administering vaccinations near the Atal Sharif area of Kalachi Tehsil (revenue unit) in the Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The gunmen managed …

China has gone through major political transformations over the past decade, with the rise and consolidation of Xi Jinping’s power being a key driver. The change in leadership has been accompanied by power centralisation, governance changes, anti-corruption drives, and growing ethnic tension. This decade coincided with China’s rise in the …

Lithuania appears to have stemmed the recent surge in irregular crossings by migrants cynically being sent to the border by Belarus as part of its hybrid war with the West. The problem is far from over. Lithuania, subjected to a deliberate and vengeful influx of irregular migrants coming across the …