The virtual summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on July 4 welcomed Iran as its tenth member To be out of sync with the contemporary life anywhere at anytime becomes indeed a despairing situation. That was the tragic predicament of the Austrian writer of the inter-war period, Stefan Zweig, who once wrote, “One must be …
Whose game is Pakistan’s Khar playing?
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani (L) and Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a panel discussion at World Economic Forum, Davos, January 19, 2023 Watching the video of the Hina Rabbani Khar — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar exchanges at Davos on Thursday, one was reminded of a remark by Russian …
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-9
US President Biden enters Roosevelt Room in the White House to give a statement on US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Aug 24, 2021 9. A political windfall for Taliban The horrific terrorist strikes in Kabul on Thursday which killed at least 12 US servicemen and dozens of civilians will lead to a higher level of cooperation …
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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Russia, China reinvent their moorings in Central Asia
Soldiers from US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division line up in a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III to parachute into a drop zone in Central Asia in a spectacular display of the longest distance airborne operation in military history, Chimkent, Kazakhstan, Sept. 15, 1997. The United States, which was de facto assuming the historical role …
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Return of Great Game in Post-Soviet Central Asia
The Wakhan Corridor: A narrow strip of land in Eastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, 295 km long and 15 to 57 km wide, connecting Afghanistan with China and passing through the territory of Tajikistan, historically a buffer between Russian Central Asia and British India. The recent Issue Brief by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission …
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US leverages Delhi-Kabul nexus. But what’s in it for India?
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (L) and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (C) met the US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad (R), Delhi, May 7, 2020 The two-hour stopover in Delhi on May 7 by the US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, accompanied by the White House official in charge of …
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Pakistan’s exit from FATF list puts India on the spot
US Acting Asst Secy of State Alice Wells met Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, Islamabad, Jan. 20, 2020 The media reports that in the Indian estimation there is “a 75 per cent chance” of Pakistan exiting the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the plenary of the international body on February 16 …
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Do not barter away national security interests
There has been an avalanche of reports in the international media quoting western diplomats and security officials to the effect that India’s “intelligence-led… non-military preemptive strike” on a big terrorist camp in Pakistan on February 26 was all baloney. Apparently, these reports say, there was so such terrorist camp in existence in Balakot. Incredibly enough, …
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