The Taliban fighters posing for family photo and relaxing in the Presidential Palace, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug 15, 2021 1. Collapse of the Afghan Army Social media reported that at the Kabul residence of the Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib who post-haste fled to Tajikistan on Saturday with President Ashraf Ghani, three Toyota Landcruiser SUVs …
Russia, China circle the wagons. Iran is in it.
10000 troops from PLA’s Western Theatre Command and Russia’s Eastern Military District wrapped up Zapad/Interaction-2021 exercises in Ningxia region, east of Xinjiang, August 13, 2021 The Tehran Times reported on Wednesday that Moscow has conveyed to Tehran that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has reached a consensus on Iran’s admission as a full member of the …
Continue reading “Russia, China circle the wagons. Iran is in it.”
Taliban neutralises the Afghan warlords
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif besieged by the Taliban, August 11, 2021 The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday had an air of high drama — the C-in-C visiting the frontline — even as the Taliban’s relentless onslaught is bringing it close …
Russia-Israel ties are like matryoshka dolls
Traditional Matryoshka nesting dolls in a Moscow store It does not take much effort to plant a rumour in West Asia. There is no other region where, perhaps, rumours are the lifeblood of politics and politics is the stuff of rumours. A rumoured crisis in the Russia-Israel relationship is making waves lately. It all began …
Continue reading “Russia-Israel ties are like matryoshka dolls”
Don’t waste the opportunity at UN SC
India’s thirty-day tenure through August as the president of the UN Security Council has got mired in needless controversy. The issue is about the “emergency meeting” regarding Afghanistan that India convened on Friday. According to Pakistan, it had made a “a formal request” for participation in the meeting but India turned it down. Prima facie, …
Spectre of Syria haunts Afghanistan
Fencing of Durand Line is almost complete. Pakistani troops guarding the border with Afghanistan in Khyber The Moscow daily Vedomosti with links to the establishment has reported that Russia will give “limited military support” to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the event of attacks from Afghanistan, including weapons supplies, air support and deployment of special forces, but …
A new dawn breaks in Tehran
On Thursday, Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath of office in a ceremony in the Majlis in Tehran. This will be a defining moment in the Islamic Republic’s political history, since in many ways, the country is at the crossroads. The Islamic system continues to enjoy a broad social base but erosion is …
JCPOA: A bridge too far?
Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in as Iran’s next president on August 5, marking a defining moment in the situation around the nuclear issue On Tuesday, Ebrahim Raisi will be formally confirmed as Iran’s next president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two days later, he will be sworn in as president in the …
Blinken’s single-point agenda in Delhi – China
The overnight visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to New Delhi has been an eye-opener in many ways. It highlighted how much India has changed through the searing pain and suffering it underwent in the past one-year period and how that tumultuous period also led to a reset in the government’s calculus. A …
Continue reading “Blinken’s single-point agenda in Delhi – China”
Biden prepares the ground for QUAD-3
The US President Joe Biden (R) welcomes visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Washington, July 27, 2021 The US President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy team seems increasingly unsure of the ground beneath their feet. They can see that the edifice that their 78-year old chief is erecting stands on shaky ground. But they lack the presence of …