Two decades after its removal from power in 2001, the Taliban regained its control on Afghanistan with the withdrawal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces led by the United States. Although the Taliban continued its armed resistance against NATO forces for two decades, the “peaceful” negotiations between them and the United States paved the way for them to regain power. This political change shifted the power dynamics within Afghanistan, but it equally raised questions about regional stability and peace in the region. However, after coming to power in 2021, the Taliban exhibited a “new politics”. Khalid Wasim Hassan and Mohmad Maqbool Waggy trace the trajectory of the Taliban from the early 1990s to its re-emergence in recent times. By looking into the engagement of regional powers, such as India, Pakistan and Iran, the paper aims to evaluate the new politics of the Taliban and its attempts to reach out to the neighbouring states.

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) engagement in the Afghanistan case has been marred by confusion and the proliferation of inaccurate information, predominantly emanating from the ICC’s internal decision making processes. At times, the ICC has misconstrued the nuances of the Afghan context and the array of stakeholders involved, particularly in its endeavours to interact with victims, leading to unintended and adverse consequences. As a result, the spotlight has disproportionately shifted towards the United States’ role in the investigation, overshadowing the circumstances within Afghanistan. Nonetheless, the ICC’s participation remains promising, contingent upon effective measures to communicate with and engage the victim communities. Jackson Simango Magoge and Suresh M Benjamin critically underscore the imperative of rectifying these issues to harness the ICC’s potential to serve justice and facilitate reconciliation.

Sukhwant S Bindra reviews the history of the cooperative alliance between Pakistan and China since the fifties and discusses the reasons that have hitherto motivated the two countries to maintain close relations. The primary motive is Pakistan’s existential fear of India, consonant with China’s design to expose New Delhi to a two-front war in case of an armed confrontation on the Himalayan borders. The One Belt One Road (OBOR)-Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project and its critical component the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are seen by India as harmful to her national interests. In recent years, Pakistan’s growing economic and political problems, Islamabad’s need to repair its relations with the USA and the changing international situation have made Beijing hesitant to carry out the ambitious development projects planned in Pakistan as part of the CPEC project, even though the bond between the two governments remains strong.

Rami Niranjan Desai surveys the current situation in Myanmar, a country at risk of disintegration due to a civil war that opposes a number of ethnic regional and political groups to the military government (Tatmadaw). The author points out that the widening internal conflict, fostered by US and western support for the insurgents, benefits China’s growing penetration of the country’s economy while posing a major challenge to India’s troubled northeastern border region that abuts Myanmar.

The journey of democracy and development in the post-independent Indian state under the Congress-led government had conceptualised poverty and unemployment as a phenomenon of unsatisfied individual needs that could only be met through external material support for the economic survival of the poorer masses. In this context. Shibsankar Jena argues that “Skill India” is a counter-discursive approach to the statistical understanding of poverty and transforms an individual’s abstract labour into concrete labour through developing his/her skills and capabilities to become a productive and innovative agent of the global economy.

In a climate of worldwide instability the growing masses of migrants and refugees moving across countries and usually heading for more prosperous and peaceful nations, pose a major problem in terms of regulations, law and order, economic resources and security. Sudhir Hindwan analyses the evolution of the migrant and refugee phenomenon, its diverse causes and circumstances and suggests some policy changes and social reforms to help address the crisis humanely and effectively.

his article provides a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the 2012 Malian conflict, using a combination of document review and semi-structured interviews. It is based on the responses of 15 participants, including academicians, community leaders, community representatives and top government officials, who were interviewed. The study focused on the role of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a predominantly Tuareg military group aligned with religious forces, in the uprising and the subsequent combats in the country since then. The study identified several internal factors that contributed to the conflict, such as socio-cultural, economic, political and religious militancy, as well as issues related to governance and access to land. Issa Diabate, Mahfooz Ahmed and El Fatih Abdullahi Abdelsalam also examined external factors, such as the Libyan crisis and French colonialism and intervention, significantly impacting the conflict. The study concludes with recommendations for Malian policymakers and the international peace community to facilitate good governance, address socio-economic and cultural grievances and facilitate dialogue and reconciliation.

Climate change’s adverse effects, such as lack of drinkable water resources, frequent extreme weather events, forced migration and displacement, increasing conflict over natural resources, loss of livelihood, environmental catastrophes, rising sea levels and so on, are adding to the security concerns of developing countries. The acronym BRICS denotes the five rising economic powers: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that founded it. Vaishali Jain aims to assess the concept of Climate Security and the evolution of the BRICS as a powerful grouping in international politics. She examines the climate security concerns confronting BRICS nations, such as Arctic warming, deforestation of the Amazon, Himalayan glacier depletion, air pollution in major cities and African droughts. This article provides an analysis of the mitigation and adaptation strategies of BRICS nations.

This scholarly inquiry delves into the intricate nexus between warfare, ethical considerations and the framework of international law. It commences by tracing the evolutionary trajectory of laws governing warfare, delineating the transition from religiously underpinned justifications to secular rationales that took place during the era of European colonial expansion. Subsequently. Yashawardhana explores the conceptual domain of ethical warfare, elucidating the precepts of the Just War theory, which delineates stringent criteria for the moral legitimacy of armed conflict. A significant focal point pertains to the United States’ National Security Strategy of 2002, emblematic of a pronounced shift in American foreign policy towards pre-emptive military interventions. Critiques are levied against this approach for its perceived deviation from established norms of international legality. Furthermore, the study examines Israel’s strategic predilection for pre-emptive military strikes, underscored by its geopolitical compulsions. In its denouement, the inquiry focuses on the doctrine of anticipatory self-defence within the contemporary global milieu, while advocating for steadfast adherence to the cardinal principles of necessity, proportionality and immediacy to forestall the misuse or misappropriation of this prerogative.