India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said Afghanistan should not be used as a launch pad for terror activities in the region, and called for national reconciliation and stability in the country. Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Wednesday, he said Afghan territory must not be used to “intimidate or attack any country […]

The times of India reports that India has grounded its remaining fleet of Russian-made MiG-21s after another fatal crash that claimed the lives of two pilots on a training mission. Last week in the Barmer district of Rajasthan, Wing Commander M Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal were killed when their MiG-21 Type 69 trainer crashed during a night training […]

Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs said in Tashkent on Tuesday that the Islamic Emirate will not allow the security of neighboring countries and the region to be threatened from Afghanistan’s territory. Amir Khan Muttaqi outlined the achievements of the IEA in the past eleven months and called for positive political interaction with countries in the region and around the […]

Assam CM Himanta Sarma plans to visit Bangladesh to strengthen ties. Off course, Assam CM’s upcoming Bangladesh visit can take the Indo-Bangla-Assam ties to new heights. There is no doubt regarding that. Basically, the visit is very necessary at this time. Bangladesh-India basically Northeast India will benefit from the visit. India’s Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma may visit Bangladesh […]

Despite being knocked off its feet by the collapse of the Ghani government of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, New Delhi has quickly re-established its presence in the new Taliban-led Afghanistan. In early June 2022, a team led by JP Singh, the Joint Secretary heading the Pakistan–Afghanistan–Iran desk at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, visited Kabul and met with senior […]

The Promise and Peril of Rapprochement With the Taliban Since taking power last summer, Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has been isolated internationally; not a single country has yet recognized it. But in recent weeks, Taliban officials have made a series of increasingly public overtures to a once unlikely prospective partner: India. And the interest has been reciprocated, to some extent. At […]

China’s positioning with regard to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, and it is likely to be a central topic of discussion at the China-European Union Summit scheduled to be held this Friday. But for Beijing, which is seeking to mend fences and shore up ties with countries in South Asia, diplomacy closer to […]

It is strange to say that we live in a “post-colonial” country with a parliamentary democracy that gives us constitutionally guaranteed rights, while the authoritarian personality remains coded in our DNA. Irrespective of the positions we hold, we are genetically programmed to treat people with a condescension that defies the imagination. This may not seem like a serious issue at […]

India Anti-Islam remarks by ruling party officials sparked widespread unrest and international condemnation, while govt’s new military recruitment scheme triggered backlash across country. After ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Dehli-based party leader Naveen Kumar Jindal made derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad late May, large-scale protests erupted across country. Notably, massive protests 3 June broke […]

India and Afghanistan neither shares border nor have a direct rail and road links between the two countries but due to Afghanistan’s fluctuating relations with Pakistan, India has long been an active player in Afghanistan. In the previous Taliban rule (1997-2001) the relation between the two countries were uneasy and India’s ties with the Northern Alliance were not only close […]