Top Taliban leader from the Haqqani Network called on former Afghan President Hamid Karzai with a delegation to discuss the formation of an inclusive government, Kabul, August 18, 2021 3. The Return of the Native There is immense curiosity about the Taliban’s first moves following the dramatic return to Kabul after two decades. The big question …
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 approves algorithm war in Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden (R) called Afghanistan President Ghani to assure US will defend his government, July 23, 2021 If only America’s presidents exercised the option to do muscle-flexing in the White House gym, the world would have been a calmer place. This is the second time that a US president uses Afghanistan as punch …
Continue reading “Biden approves algorithm war in Afghanistan”
UK scripts new Afghan plot for US
Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at Dushanbe with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, July 14, 2021 The ministerial meeting at Dushanbe last week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the SCO contact group with Afghanistan left a trail of disappointment. The SCO statement on Afghanistan was a baby step — significant, nonetheless, considering the …
Pegasus Project: Why I am hesitant to defend the government but must
Pegasus Project: Activists, journalists, politicians have been spied on allegedly using mobile phone malware developed by Israel. The so-called Pegasus Project, which hit media headlines, has highlighted India in a clutch of countries where snooping of the telephones of citizens is widely practised as state policy. The Washington Post, which spearheaded the Pegasus Project, proposes …
Continue reading “Pegasus Project: Why I am hesitant to defend the government but must”
Pakistan’s geo-economics is working well
When the whole world is lamenting that the US is quitting Afghanistan in ignominy, the Biden Administration is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. What an audacity of hope! The agreement reached in principle in Tashkent on Friday between the representatives of the United States, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan “to establish a new quadrilateral …
Transitional period ahead in US-China relations
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) paid an ‘official working visit to White House and held talks with President Joe Biden (R), July 15, 2021 The ‘official working visit’ by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on July 15 has been most conspicuous for its subdued tone regarding the most fateful topic of …
Continue reading “Transitional period ahead in US-China relations”
Takeaways for Russia, India from Merkel’s US visit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit White House on July 15, will be the first European leader to do so during Biden presidency A caveat must be added to the famous line by Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO’s first Secretary General and Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during the Second World War, that the purpose …
Continue reading “Takeaways for Russia, India from Merkel’s US visit”
China opens the SCO pathway to Kabul, India should go along
Amidst reports that Taliban fighters have entered Kandahar City, Afghan forces guarding a road, Afghanistan, July 9, 2021 The untimely remarks by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on the situation in Afghanistan during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at Moscow on Friday does no good for his reputation as a …
Continue reading “China opens the SCO pathway to Kabul, India should go along”
Biden avoids diplomacy with Russia
The guided-missile destroyer USS Ross enters the Black Sea to participate in Sea Breeze 2021 exercises, June 26, 2021 The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov exhorted today in an extraordinary statement that the state authorities and the society at large must mobilise their resources amid the West’s pressure. Addressing an audience in Vladivostok, Lavrov said, …