There can be no doubt that we are wading through an uncertain era of religious atavism. But let us also not ignore another by-product of this apparent iodine deficiency — cultural cretinism. It is steadily shrinking our life skills, including the ability to bond with people from different branches of the tree we share. Read […]
While Islamabad and Kabul have many reasons to fight each other, there is one reason for collaboration: The Islamic State, which is making inroads on both sides of the border, but particularly in Afghan districts bordering Pakistan like Nangarhar. Read Here – The Indian Express
The U.S. is India’s “indispensable partner” as the nations seek to elevate their ties in commerce and defense, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a joint meeting of Congress in Washington. Read Here – Bloomberg
The problem of absent quality control has plagued U.S. infrastructure projectsin Afghanistan from the start. The Kabul-to-Kandahar road, due to the multiplicity of subcontracting agencies with no one actually accountable, initially omitted the many bridges and overpasses along the way, which meant that cars and trucks had to veer off the paved road and chart […]
While the U.S. must understand India’s economic priority is not about adhering to some textbook notions of free market but to overcome poverty and seek development, India could begin to appreciate that U.S has a Pakistan-Afghanistan policy guided by multiple factors, and cannot change it only to please India. Read Here – The Hindu
Unsurprisingly, terrorism remains the preferred tactic of relatively weaker non-state actors who believe they can achieve their political objectives through violence. There has been a slight change in the perpetrators responsible for the most attacks. The Taliban replaced the self-proclaimed Islamic State as the number-one global perpetrator for terrorism attacks, with 1,093, which represents an alarming […]
For over ten years, the construction of the Salma dam has stretched the capacity of Indian diplomacy, administration and engineering to its limits, as New Delhi kept track of competing warlords on one side to maintain security, and the finance ministry’s beancounters on Raisina Hill. Read Here – The Wire
These gathering clouds over Afghanistan mean that traditional partners such as India must get involved in ways that they chose not to earlier. The danger of a re-emergence of warlordism is now a very likely possibility if the Afghan security forces are not helped in their task of taking on the Taliban. Read Here – The Wire
Two developments in the past month indicate that Washington’s mixed policy of engagement and containment (or “congagement”) toward China has begun to tilt more toward containment. The first development was the visit of Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to India in mid-April and the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement on military logistics. Read Here […]
The port at Chabahar and the attendant road infrastructure being built by India, Iran and Afghanistan is not an event to turn our backs on. There is every reason for Pakistan to ask for a place on that table. The possibilities that regional cooperation open up are far too great to be sacrificed at the […]
looking beyond borders 