The ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan working group at Dushanbe on July 13-14 have thrown light on the templates of China’s approach to the evolving situation in Afghanistan. The elucidation of China’s intentions and motivations by China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is timely …
US-Taliban acquiesce to live and let live
Handover ceremony at Camp Anthonic, from US Army to Afghan Special Forces, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 2, 2021. As the US and NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan enters the second week, certain trends are appearing on the security front as well as at the diplomatic and political level. The graph of violence is rising while …
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Guns fall silent on India-Pakistan border
The extraordinary joint statement last Friday at the level of the Director-Generals of Military Operations [DGMO] of India and Pakistan came like a bolt from the blue. It triggered speculations. Of course, it is preposterous to contemplate that the Indian Army went out on a limb without political directive, or that some “grand bargain” involving …
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US-Pak reset to advance Biden’s Afghan settlement
Barack Obama (C) with advisers reviewing Afghan exit plan, vice- president Joe Biden (L), White House, Washington, DC, circa 2010 Mark Twain is credited with the saying ‘History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.’ The echoes of history resonate as the new US administration prioritises the Afghan problem for policy review. The …
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Quad is East, Kabul is West, Never the Twain Shall Meet
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (R) met the leader of erstwhile Afghan Northern Alliance Rashid Dostum (L), New Delhi, Sept 25, 2020 The first part of this analysis is here. The policy planning with respect to Afghanistan has become an excruciatingly difficult exercise for New Delhi. Even a veteran great game addict like National Security …
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India’s overture to Taliban comes too late
The Taliban delegation at the opening ceremony of intra-Afghan talks, Doha, Qatar, September 12, 2020 The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad was roundly criticised by Indian commentators when he last passed through Delhi in May and advised the officials he met with an earthy sense of realism and foreboding that it’s high …
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Pakistan should show realism on Kashmir
Curfew in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, in anticipation of ‘Black Day’ protests over first anniversary of state’s integration, Aug 5, 2020 India will be keenly watching the outcome of the Pakistani brain wave “to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support …
Don’t beat the bushes for China, there’s nothing out there
Chinese and Pakistani border guards at the Khunjerab Pass in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region bordering China. The border tensions between India and China are accentuating a malaise among Indian analysts — their tunnel vision. Every word that slips out of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s garrulous mouth is seen nowadays as ringing affirmation of the …
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Taliban gets Khalilzad leg before wicket but won’t appeal
Prisoners in overcrowded Afghan jails. (File photo) The US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad apparently overreached by effusively welcoming the 21-member list announced in Kabul on Thursday by President Ashraf Ghani to engage with the Taliban in the format of the forthcoming intra-Afghan dialogue. Khalilzad tweeted on Thursday: “I want to congratulate Afghan …
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Regional states won’t oppose US-Taliban deal
Youth release balloons and pigeons to celebrate the reduction in violence, Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Feb. 28, 2020 The reactions of the major regional states surrounding Afghanistan over the US-Taliban peace agreement in Doha Saturday reveal fault lines that are useful pointers in the Afghan peace process. A sardonic remark by the Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar …
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