No country in South Asia has been fully spared by the coronavirus pandemic. This week Pakistan’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 ticked up dramatically, and India moved into a near-complete lockdown. With a handful of cases but sandwiched between the virus’s epicenter to the north and locked-down India to the south, Nepal and Bhutan chose to proactively close their borders. Bangladesh has been reluctant to compel social distancing while Sri Lanka has imposed curfews, with violators facing arrest.
Since its ouster in 2001, the Taliban has maintained its insurgency against the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan and the Afghan government. A new U.S.-Taliban deal could pave the way for the group’s return to power.
The ICC appeals chamber’s decision to move ahead on an investigation of grave abuses by combatants in Afghanistan, including U.S. forces, marks an unprecedented move that is likely to arouse intensive pushback from Washington.
At the outset of 2020, the conflict in Idlib province was emerging as the worst humanitarian crisis of Syria’s nine-year war. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has made relief efforts even more difficult.
The coronavirus pandemic is slowing global commerce to a crawl, but many of the world’s largest economies are taking extraordinary actions to propel them through the crisis and, hopefully, into a rapid recovery.