Young Voices

The strategy of "Winning hearts and minds" has remained a common factor in the "Global War on Terror" initiated by the Bush Doctrine as well as President Obama’s endeavors abroad.  However, the US strategy to counter Al-Qaeda and contain the growth of the Islamic State (ISIS) has largely challenged the concept of “winning hearts and minds”. The extensive use of American air power to attack the Al-Qaeda cells in Yemen and Pakistan, as well as the ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria have faced serious criticisms.

Safety and Security Concerns Regarding Pakistan’s Nuclear Energy Policy

Development towards production of Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs) by Pakistan has increased much tension in South Asia. Experts from around the world have been recognizing and highlighting the risks that come along with the introduction of TNWs. The difficulties that the US and the former Soviet Union had in managing these weapons have been well established. When examined in the South Asian context, studies have accepted that these difficulties only worsen and have recommended that Pakistan should do away with these weapons, if stability is to be realized in the region.

While the news of al-Qaeda’s South Asian wing has taken India by storm, there was another piece of news, which did not receive so much media attention in the country. On September 2, some of Taliban’s hard-line leaders had said that they might consider aligning with the Islamic State (IS) after considering the legitimacy of its Caliphate.[i]

The burning issue under which Nawaz Sharif ran his election campaign last year was Pakistan’s economic debt and its acute energy shortage. The energy crisis gripping the nation has not only resulted in long hours of power shortages and load shedding but has adversely impacted the economy with commercial sectors and industries facing the brunt of the energy crunch.

With 2014 marked as the Chinese New Year of the Horse, India and China have galloped together into taking new strides in their bilateral relations.

It has been little more than two months that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to power in New Delhi after defeating the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that governed India for ten years.

The much touted US pivot/re-balance to the Asia-Pacific has drawn considerable flak of late. From the Syrian chemical weapons use to Russia’s revanchism, the questioning of America’s leadership has seen the pivot naysayers become louder. President Obama has firmly recognized the limits of American power.

The ISIS – Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, previously called al-Qaeda in Iraq under the leadership of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and currently called the Islamic state (after declaring Iraq a ‘Caliphate’) – has become a major non-state player in the conflict in Iraq as well as Syria. The organisation, which has its origins in Iraq, had shifted its base of operations to Syria when the civil war began in the country to oust the Assad regime.

The internet has become the primary medium of communication in the era of globalization, which is highly dominated by the information and communication technologies. The internet – network of networks – deals with massive data which is transmitted over secure as well as insecure channels and media. The security requirement of data is determined by the value or importance of data.