In the webpages of The Indian Express today, I try to explore the reasons behind the persistent and vehement campaign in Pakistan against negotiating a transit trade agreement with Afghanistan and India. I suggest that this might have something to do with Pakistan Army’s concerns about Obama’s South Asian strategy.
In the web pages of The Indian Express I welcome U.S. President Barack’s restraint on the Kashmir question in his interview broadcast on the Dawn television in Pakistan today. I argue that Obama’s prudence must be seen as part of greater realism that has characterised his foreign policy framework.
What have we learnt from engaging Pakistan in recent years? As India returns to the debate on if and when we should resume talks with Pakistan, I identify in The Indian Express today four lessons that may be relevant.
In the web-pages of The Indian Express today, I argue that the defence minister A. K. Antony must shed ideological ambiguity and policy conservatism to promote India’s defence diplomacy. While the armed forces, especially the Navy, sense the strategic opportunities to leverage India’s growing military power, New Delhi’s civil servants and political leaders remain behind the curve.
Since Foreign Offices weigh their words when drafting statements, it is always worth reading what they say, especially when they have a new management at the top. In the webpages of The Indian Express today, I argue that Krishna’s short but crisp first statement points to self-confident diplomatic mood at the launch of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s second term.
As the clamour for a more vigorous regional policy grows in New Delhi, I argue in today’s Financial Express that the only way India can minimise Chinese role in South Asia is to emulate it. I suggest that India’s new foreign minister should press for a more generous market access to our neighbours and encourage the border states to play a larger role in reaching out to political and economic trends across the frontiers.
In the webpages of The Indan Express today, I argue that the spectacular showing of the Congress party in the general elections strengthens India’s negotiating position on the international stage. I suggest that Washington, Islamabad, and Beijing will soon have to come to terms with a strong and resolute interlocutor in New Delhi.
Analysing the Pak Army’s decision to launch the long delayed military offensive against the Taliban in Swat valley under American prodding, I argue that the U.S. is not the only country that frequently intervenes in Pakistan’s internal affairs. In the web pages of The Indian Express today, i point to the growing clout of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan and Iranian attempt to develop the same. More broadly i propose that as America, Arabia and Persia deepen their involvement in the Af-Pak politics, New Delhi must begin to engage all the three in order to achieve India’s objectives in north-western Subcontinent.
As the U.S. Congress gets ready to loosen its pursen strings for Pakistan and the Obama Administration seeks the removal of strict conditions on the aid to Islamabad, I suggest that the Pak Army has once again successfully leveraged its presumed weakness into a Washington windfall. Read the more detailed analysis on the web pages of The Indian Express.
In the last few months we have had many reports from the Washington think tanks offering recommendations on the Af-Pak strategy. This we week have one from the Carnegie Endownment. Written by Ashley Tellis, the report puts on the table the first solid critique of the Obama Administration’s approach to the Af-Pak region. I have a short comment on the Tellis thesis that insists there is no alternative to victory over the Taliban.
Recent Comments