The highly disparaging remarks to by the US President Donald Trump on Wednesday regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s role in Afghanistan come as a shocking revelation. Trump was talking to the press following his first cabinet meeting of 20i9 at the White House in Washington. No Indian PM has been reduced to look …
(Iran’s Chabahar Port) India has done well to put in place the nuts and bolts of a payment mechanism for its trade and investment transactions with Iran against the backdrop of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in May last year followed by the imposition …
Continue reading “India sequesters Iran ties from US predatory strike”
(Armageddon: Will it come on Trump’s watch?) Is 2019 going to be the year of the Armageddon? The answer is a definitive ‘No’. As 2018 ended, the potential for war was looming and Russian President Vladimir Putin even refused to rule out a nuclear war. But then, the statesmen grappling with international security also …
Continue reading “World is safe from global conflict in 2019”
(King Salman of Saudi Arabia & Afghan President Ghani) As surely as night follows day, in the wake of Saudi Arabia assuming the lead role in the Afghan peace talks, Tehran has unveiled an analogous peace process involving the Taliban. (See my article in Asia Times Saudi Arabia takes charge of Afghan peace talks.) The …
Continue reading “Iran challenges Saudi role in the Afghan endgame”
(Russian FM Sergey Lavrov receiving Pakistani FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Moscow, Dec 26 2018) With what mixed feelings Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wound up on Wednesday his hurried 3-day regional tour of Kabul, Tehran, Beijing and Moscow, we will never know. What sticks out is that Islamabad’s newfound role as “facilitator” of the …
Continue reading “Pakistan’s Afghan jig irks regional states”
(Talibs as diplomats beckoning to peace.) Panic has seized the Indian analysts – mixed with fury and frustration – that the Americans are marching out of Afghanistan. Yet, the fact of the matter is that no such decision has been announced yet by President Trump, who actually has nothing to lose and everything to gain …
Continue reading “Delhi shouldn’t panic that Afghan war is ending”
(“We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Donald Trump, Jan 2017) Within the week, President Trump’s sudden announcement of “total” troop withdrawal from Syria has ripped apart the American political system and exposed its fault lines. Trump’s decision is intrinsically a sound one. He didn’t start the Syrian …
Continue reading “Why Mattis’ exit is a defining moment in US foreign policy”
(Stalingrad of Syrian war: ancient Syrian city of Raqqa after US bombing) On December 17, Ankara was notified of President Trump’s decision on troop withdrawal from Syria. During an earlier phone conversation between him and President Recep Erdogan on Dec 14, Trump had pointedly asked and elicited a positive response from the Turkish leader as …
(Khyber Pass) The 2nd Afghanistan-China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, which took place in Kabul on Saturday, largely covered familiar ground – reaffirming the commitment of the three countries to strengthen their relations, resolutely fight terrorism, support Afghan reconciliation, extend support to Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, exhort Taliban to come to peace talks, foster security …
(Russia, Central Asia and Afghanistan) Surely, the recent Moscow conference on Afghanistan (November 9) brought to light that the peace talks will get a big fillip if the US and Russia work in tandem. (See my column in SCF titled US Can Avoid Afghan Quagmire with Russia’s Help, Nov 15, 2018.) Everything depends on the …
Continue reading “It’s time for Trump to revisit Afghan strategy”
