(Handout picture of US officials at peace talks with Taliban, Doha, Qatar) The Press Trust of India has reported on the discussions regarding Afghanistan in Washington last week between the visiting Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and the US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad. The report carries New Delhi dateline and is attributed to ‘official sources’. According …
Continue reading “India shouldn’t undermine Afghan peace talks”
The Afghan national security advisor Hamdullah Mohib, while on a visit to Washington, tore into the US’ peace talks with Taliban in remarks to the American media on Thursday. Mohib alleged that US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad is keeping the Afghan govt in Kabul in the dark about the negotiations with the Taliban and that …
(The United Nations Security Council in session in New York) The Chinese reservation about placing a technical hold on the listing of the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’ by the United Nations Security Council does not come as surprise. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in the recent days had made it …
(A view of the Taliban’s office in Doha, Qatar) The marathon talks between the US officials and the Taliban representatives at Doha through a 16-day period ending yesterday can be seen as a defining moment in the endgame in Afghanistan. Both the US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the Taliban have signalled that progress has …
(Saudi Crown Prince, Pakistan PM chair joint Supreme Coordination Council session, Islamabad, February 18, 2019) It is improbable that Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a motor car driving licence. And it is an intelligent guess that even if he did possess one, Modi will not emulate Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan by driving the car …
In a devastating condemnation of Islamabad that has no precedent, the Military Aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi has squarely blamed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for supporting the terrorist groups acting against Iran. This followed a fedayeen attack on a bus carrying security personnel of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) …
Continue reading “Iran accuses Pak ISI of cross-border terrorism”
The fedayeen attack in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, on Thursday killing 44 paramilitary personnel and injuring scores of others should be properly understood. At the most obvious level, the country is paying a very heavy price for the Modi government’s Kashmir policies — riveted on relentless state suppression of an alienated people — and its …
Continue reading “Pulwama shows limits to muscular policies”
The Afghan Mujahideen leader and former president Professor Sibghatullah Mujaddidi died in Kabul on Monday at the age of 93. It marks the departure of one of the most moderate figures in the ‘Islamist’ camp. Mujaddidi was a Naqshbandi Sufi and more an Islamic scholar than an insurgent leader. Probably, the soft-spoken Mujahid with a …
Continue reading “Mujaddidi pioneered India’s Mujahideen ties”
The two-day conference of mainstream Afghan politicians and Taliban representatives in Moscow on February 5-6 becomes a landmark event in the peace process. Principally, it signifies the commencement of the ‘intra-Afghan dialogue’, a process that was struggling to be born. This process can be expected to galvanise the Afghan peace talks. Some of the most …
(Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov greeting Taliban officials at Moscow peace conference, November 2018) The Ministry of External Affairs spokesman’s remark on Thursday in New Delhi that “it is important that the presidential election in Afghanistan takes place as per the schedule” is the first major Indian comment on the current peace talks in Qatar between …
