The paper aims to comprehend the newly found challenges of Afghanistan that have emerged right after the sudden withdrawal of the American forces and have created a security vacuum in the war-torn country. The paper explores various dimensions through which a Taliban-controlled country can become the most significant security threat to the South Asian region and the rest of Asia, hampering the peace and stability of the region. Further, it reconnoitres the rise of the new Taliban regime and how it is different from the previous one.
The series of raids by Islamic State underlines how quickly its ideology has gained traction in Bangladesh.
Pakistan has been struggling to cope with a multitude of predicaments ranging from political instability to sectarian intolerance, which often prompts the international community to tag this South Asian nation as a failing state.
The involvement of a number of Indians in the foiled UK terror plots of early July this year rang alarm bells in India. Are Indian Muslims being lured into al-Qaida's global jihad? Britons of Indian origin have been tied to al-Qaida in the past, including the Muslim convert Dhiren Barot and Haroon Aswat, the alleged mastermind of the 21/7 bomb attacks. Unlike these Qaida predecessors, Kafeel Ahmed, one of the Glasgow car bombers, was born and raised in large part in India, in the booming hi-tech city of Bangalore.
The fall of the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) has indeed heralded a new era in Pakistan marked by conflict between moderate and fundamentalist forces.