President George Bush recently told a group of American journalists that the greatest challenge that his successor would face is not from the situation in Iraq, or the growing violence in Afghanistan, but from the growing challenges of Islamic radicalism in Pakistan.

'All they (the US) are interested in is Osama bin Laden'

Pakistani historian and political commentator Ahmed Rashid, who masterfully explained The Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia (2000), and followed it up with Jihad: The Rise of Islam in Central Asia (2002), has now provided an update with Descent into Chaos: How the War Against Islamic Extremism is Being Lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia (Allen Lane/Penguin, special Indian price, Rs 495).

China is creating a ring of anti-Indian influences in the South Asian neighbourhood that signifies strategic encirclement and containment of India.

Jet Airways, India's premier international airline, has won the Best Cargo Airline of Central Asia' at the prestigious Cargo Airline of the Year Awards, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.