Turkish delight
India should welcome the proposal to secure Central Asian gas through Turkey and Israel Indrani Bagchi reports on an exciting new development. Ali Babacan, Turkey’s foreign minister, has proposed a...
View ArticleIndia’s foreign aid budget
More for Bhutan and Afghanistan, less for ‘other developing countries’ Here is a chart showing outlays for ‘technical and economic cooperation with other countries and advances to foreign governments’,...
View ArticleMore on India’s military presence in Afghanistan
Over at Broadsword (linkthanks Pragmatic, Rohit), Ajai Shukla makes a curious case against India strengthening its military presence in Afghanistan. To now throw troops into what will inevitably become...
View ArticleLubricating a US-Iran rapprochement (2)
The geopolitical implications of the new route to Central Asia Commenting on India-US relations after the UPA government won the vote of confidence last week, Nikolas Gvosdev contends that Iran will...
View ArticleMy op-ed in Mint: Pomegranates, polls and power
Why India must strengthen its military presence in Afghanistan In today’s op-ed in Mint Sushant and I call for India to increase its troop levels in Afghanistan. A slightly edited version of the...
View ArticleRussia and NATO’s Afghan supply routes
Time for the West to mend fences with Iran’s neighbours It’s unclear if US and NATO policy-makers are looking at maps of Afghanistan and its surroundings. How do they think they are going to supply...
View ArticleAnother Cold War?
The West risks causing one In a recent exchange on on this article, Zorawar Daulet Singh (who had covered this theme in the November 2007 issue of Pragati) had this to say: It was and is not in Russian...
View ArticleRoutes and regimes
…and the Indian wisdom concerning mangoes and trees It is impossible to eschew sarcasm when you read that the alternative supply route through the Central Asian states “could leave the United States...
View ArticleWill SCO hold?
Jolt if not toast The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) was born out of China’s desire to engage the Muslim Central Asian states in a co-operative framework to keep a lid on separatism in...
View ArticleRejecting Rebiya Kadeer’s visa application
…was a prudent and astute move by New Delhi Rebiya Kadeer is indeed a remarkable woman. In recent weeks—not least due to China’s propaganda campaign to demonise her—she has emerged internationally as...
View ArticleWeekday Squib: Jimmy Jimmy in Tajikistan
What would India’s soft power be without Bappi? In its June 2009 edition, the Proceedings of the Centre for Soft Power Studies reported how Jimmy Zingchak holds sway over the people of Kazakhstan....
View ArticleKarzai’s tightrope
Pakistan’s opposition to an autonomous Afghanistan is the problem My op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Asia‘s symposium (Nov 15th, 2011): As the Obama administration pushes for an earlier drawdown of...
View ArticleWhat Karzai seeks from India
How India’s Afghanistan policy might shape up Suryatapa Bhattarcharya sought my views on Hamid Karzai’s visit to India for his report that appears in today’s edition of The National. Here is the full...
View ArticleChinese inroads
The new silk road is being built faster than the world’s ability to grasp its consequences. China has worked out a railway route to Afghanistan and, from August this year, begun operating two trains a...
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