January 24: India
More than 650 separatist rebels, who for the last 30 years fought for autonomy in India’s northeastern state of Assam, put down their arms and sign a ceasefire agreement with the government. The three decades of insurgency have claimed the lives of 10,000 people.
February 23: Afghanistan
United States President Barack Obama apologizes to the Afghan people for the burning of copies of the Koran by U.S. soldiers which has caused violent anti-American protests across Afghanistan. U.S. soldiers believed that Taliban prisoners were using the books as a secret message system.
March 11: Afghanistan
US Army Sergant Robert Bales goes on an armed rampage in Afghanistan’s Panjwai district of Kandahar, killing 16 Afghan civilians. The killing that comes right after an incident of burning copies of the Koran by the US soldiers causes anger among the Afghan people and heightening tensions between both countries.
April 15: Afghanistan
The Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan announce the beginning of “spring offensive” by staging a spate of coordinated militant attacks across the country. The offensive lasts 18 hours and kills more than 50 people, including 38 militants. The places attacked are in the capital, Kabul, but also in the provinces of Ligar, Paktia, and Nangarhar.
April 17: Afghanistan
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces that Australia will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2013, earlier than planned. Most of foreign troops are supposed to leave at the end of 2014. Australia’s 1,550 troops are stationed in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan region, and are part of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF).
May 2: Afghanistan
The United States President Barack Obama arrives in Afghanistan on a visit to sign an agreement on the U.S.-Afghan relations. The document includes plans for U.S. training of the Afghan forces and Afghan commitment to transparency and accountability. President Obama says that the U.S. will not withdraw its troops before the deadline of 2014 as it is important to finish the mission in Afghanistan. Currently the U.S. has 88,000 troops in this South Asian country, with about 23,000 expected to come home by the end of summer.
May 10: Pakistan
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspends its humanitarian work in Pakistan’s three out of four provinces due to increased violence and attacks on humanitarian aid workers. Since 2009, 19 aid activists have been murdered in Pakistan and 20 have been kidnapped for ransom.
May 28: India
For the first time since 1987, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pays a two-day official visit in Myanmar to strengthen the ties between the two countries. Both sides sign 12 agreements, including those on investment, trade, bank cooperation, development around the common border area, airline services, and cultural exchanges. Prime Minister Singh also meets with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. India is interested in gaining access to Myanmar’s gas fields and counterbalancing China’s influence in the region.
May 28: Nepal
Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai calls for new elections in November after three political parties leave the government due to an inability to reach a consensus on a new constitution. Nepal has been struggling with a constitutional deadlock for over four years. The main sticking point is whether the federal lines should be established along ethnic lines. The critics of such a solution say this would cause instability and lead to the country’s disintegration.
June 5: Pakistan
Senior al-Qaeda commander, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who is believed to be second-in-command after Osama bin Laden’s death, is killed in Pakistan’s northern region of Waziristan in a U.S. drone strike. The attack causes anger in Pakistan and raises accusations that the U.S. has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty. Al-Libi’s death is a significant blow to the organization’s operations.
June 19: Pakistan
After convicting him of contempt of court, Pakistani Supreme Court forces Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani out of office after he refused to pursue corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. (June 27): Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf becomes Pakistan’s new prime minister. The Supreme Court presses him to follow up on charges against President Zardari. The situation shows the long-running power struggle between the country’s judiciary and the politicians.
July 3: Pakistan
Pakistan agrees to reopen the supply corridor for the NATO-led forces stationed in Afghanistan after the United States apology for killing two dozens of Pakistani soldiers in an air strike on the Pakistani-Afghan border last November. The route is crucial as the U.S. plans to pull its troops out of Afghanistan by 2014. Also, both sides hope the move will improve the Pakistani-U.S. strained relations.
July 8: Afghanistan
During a conference in Tokyo, more than 70 countries and international organizations pledge $16 billion in civilian aid to Afghanistan over four years, an important move to secure the country’s future after the departure of the foreign troops in 2014. Most of the funds will come from the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, and Germany. On its part, Afghanistan agrees to new conditions to deal with endemic corruption. According to the World Bank, 95 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP comes from international aid.
July 31: India
Hundreds of millions of people in India’s 20 states are left with no electricity for two days in a row after a collapse of three power grids. The outage is blamed on several states that drew more power than their quotas allowed. On the second day of the power blackout, more than 1.2 billion people, hundreds of thousands of businesses and services have been affected. In recent years, India’s demand for electricity has soared, but the country’s infrastructure has been unable to keep pace with growing needs.
September 2: Afghanistan
The United States temporarily suspends training for new Afghan local police recruits after a series of deadly attacks on NATO troops by Afghan police and soldiers suspected to have ties with the Taliban. The local police are used to improve security in the country’s remote areas. The U.S. plans to improve the vetting process for new recruits.
September 2: Pakistan
Police in Pakistan arrest a Muslim cleric who planted burned pages of Koran in a girl’s bag, who is a Christian from his neighborhood. The girl called Rimsha was briefly detained under Pakistan’s strict law of blasphemy after an angry crowd demanded her punishment. The event causes the flight of Christians from the area and increases concerns about the country’s blasphemy laws, which are often used to solve personal issues.
September 4: India
China’s Defense Minister, General Liang Guanglie, comes to India on an official visit, the first one in eight years. During the visit both sides agree on an exchange of high-level officials, maritime security, and cooperation between their two navies. They also agree to resume joint military exercises, which were suspended in 2007.
October 9: Pakistan
Taliban militants attack and seriously injure a 14-year old girl, Malala Yousafzai, in Pakistan’s northwestern region of the Swat Valley, who has campaigned for education rights for girls. She has come to be known as a campaigner after writing a diary for BBC Urdu, in which she described the closing girls’ schools in her region in 2009. The Taliban says it targeted Yousafzai because she “promoted secularism.”