English Blogs
English Blogs · 24. April 2024
The South Caucasus, a small region between the Black and the Caspian Seas, between Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, continues to be haunted by conflicts that date back to the Soviet era but also stands in front of new perspectives to orientate itself more towards Europe.
English Blogs · 14. März 2024
Since autumn 2023, there have been claims that a port in Ochamchire, a district in Abkhazia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, will become a new hub for the Russian Black Sea Fleet and that this could extend the bloody war in Ukraine to the Caucasus. However, recent satellite and drone imagery of the port in Ochamchire obtained by SIGA shows that, so far, nothing of relevance has happened there
English Blogs · 21. Februar 2024
As SIGA can exclusively reveal, the Afghan Taliban have, in separate secret meetings with Tajik officials and the jihadist group Ansorullah Tajikistan in Afghanistan, been attempting to broker peace negotiations between these two sides. Such efforts prove to be fraught with difficulties though and their outcome remains uncertain, if not outright doubtful - meaning that worries about foreign jihadists in Afghanistan will remain a geopolitically hot topic.
English Blogs · 01. November 2023
While the European Union is set to decide again on whether to grant Georgia the status of a EU membership candidate, ongoing political controversies in the small Caucasus republic — including government allegations that opposition forces plan to overthrow the elected government in a coup and opposition claims of a pro-Russian government undermining Georgia’s democracy and Western aspirations — loom large over this coming EU decision. And Georgia’s future.
English Blogs · 25. Juli 2023
Since almost two years, Afghanistan is governed by the Taliban. Reports about their Islamist rule are often on polarising ends. Many draw the picture of a terror regime, under which everybody is threaten with death and no normal life is possible. The Taliban are rejecting this and pride themselves to have brought peace and quiet to the warn-torn country at the Hindu Kush, which is confirmed by some others. The truth lies somewhere in between.
English Blogs · 13. April 2023
Recent reports on lithium mining in Afghanistan led to claims that there will be a lithium rush in Afghanistan with significant consequences for the world-wide supply chain of the rare metal ever more sought after for its use in batteries. However, a closer look by the Swiss Institute for Global Affairs (SIGA) raises serious doubts about such prospects, amongst others as there are manifold hurdles that qualify, if not question, the economical viability of lithium extraction from Afghan rocks.
English Blogs · 29. Januar 2023
On 12th of January 2023, the Swiss Institute for Global Affairs (SIGA) sat down with Qari Fasihuddin Fetrat, the Chief of Army Staff of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, to talk with him about the status of the Taliban Army. This marked the first extensive interview given by the Chief of Army Staff of the Islamist group in which he provided exclusive insights into the Taliban Army.
English Blogs · 03. Oktober 2022
While efforts for peace between the Pakistani government and the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have resulted in an — albeit uneasy — ceasefire, TTP members continue cross-border activities, namely propaganda and proselytising, from their refuges in Afghanistan. And the Pakistani border fence as well as restrictions imposed by the Afghan Taliban have only a limited impact on this, as exclusive information obtained by the Swiss Institute for Global Affairs (SIGA) shows.
English Blogs · 29. August 2022
In order to assess the risk of war in the Taiwan Strait, several key variables need to be considered. This article will discuss a key regional trend that may show important implications for stability across the Taiwan Strait, namely the shifting of military balance. Moreover, it will refer to the concept of public opinion warfare and connect it to the Taiwan Strait discussion.
English Blogs · 04. August 2022
On 31st of July 2022, a U.S. drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qa’ida, in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul, an incident that triggered a flurry of media reports and analyses. However, a closer look reveals that reliable information about the incident and its implications is limited.