To mark Prime Minister Modi's seventh meeting with Obama and his historic joint address to US Congress -- the sixth Indian PM to do so -- India Abroad, the newspaper published from New York and owned by rediff.com, reached out to diplomats and strategic thinkers in New Delhi and Washington, DC, to assess the current state of the US-India relationship and suggest a road map for the future.
During the meeting on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS Summit on Wednesday, prime minister Modi said there was a "new direction and new energy" in bilateral ties after the two leaders' second informal summit in Chennai.
'India's relationship with China has been and will continue to be complex, delicate and sensitive,' says Rup Narayan Das.
In New Delhi, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will sign the first-ever strategic agreement with India. Sheela Bhatt analyses the importance of Karzai's visit and India's budding relationship with its neighbour.
Across Yes Bank branches, the busiest people were the relationship managers, trying to soothe nerves. Many were seen advising clients the situation was only temporary and that their money was safe.
Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com listens to four Indian and American national security advisers recalling the hard work that went into negotiating the nuclear deal.
Upset over the Devyani Khobragade episode, India on Wednesday raised with the United States its concerns over "trafficking" visas issued to family members of Sangita Richard, the absconding maid of the Indian diplomat whose arrest had triggered a row between the two countries.
The US's first lady ambassador to India wants to set a new tone for the India-US relationship. Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
'Clearly our relationship is founded on democratic values and a shared history that we have in promoting these values,' Nancy Powell said, but added, 'our economic and commercial relationship has been of great importance.'
China, however, remained ambiguous about the status of its own troops.
Terming the Khobragade episode "extremely irksome", Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said it was time there should be a "closure" to the issue for which the US should find a "political solution".
The relationship between India and the United States has reached a moment of great opportunity and by working together the two countries can shape the future of the world, a top American diplomat has said.
Notwithstanding how the current impasse is solved, at some point in the future, Russia will realise that just as centuries ago it developed the paradigm of securing its heartland's safety through annexing vast buffer zones between itself and the enemy, a more modern security is possible only through friendly relations and sustainable peace, observes Shyam G Menon.
Long before he became an international diplomat, a sparkling writer and a charismatic politician, Shashi Tharoor fell in love with cricket. In this special feature, Exclusive! to Rediff.com, Tharoor recounts his first encounter with the glorious game when England toured India way back in 1963 when the future Thiruvanathapuram MP was a mere lad of seven, and looks back on the India-England cricketing relationship which celebrates a hundred Tests at Lord's this week.
'China is likely to help Pakistan in keeping the fire burning in J&K to bleed India for its own interests.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said complete disengagement requires re-deployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective sides of the Line of Actual Control(LAC) and this can be done only through mutually agreed actions.
Senator John Kerry, a close foreign policy aid of United States President Barack Obama, has left for a quick visit to Pakistan amidst strained bilateral ties after Islamabad refused to grant diplomatic immunity to an American official facing murder charges. "Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry left on Monday night for Pakistan where he will meet with senior Pakistan government officials to reaffirm support for the strategic relationship," said his aide.
'A senior US diplomat last week asked me when things will go back to normal. I had to tell her that if normalcy meant getting back these perks, it is not going to happen for a very long time, if ever at all,' says Mohan Guruswamy. 'For the Indian public now is outraged that US diplomats have enjoyed all these winking at the rulebook.'
The talks came a day after the two armies began a limited disengagement in a few areas in Galwan Valley and Hot Spring in a demonstration of their intent to end the row peacefully.
'The Pakistanis were lulled adequately to provide one of the fundamental prerequisites for successful execution of such an option: Surprise.' 'The other requisite: Deception in terms of selection of areas for launch/time of offensive action,' explains Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In what clearly showcases Pakistan's wicked face, several Afghan and international intelligence officials and diplomats stationed in Kabul have confirmed that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, with the help of Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence, has expanded its anti-India operations into Afghanistan and set up training camps, adding new volatility to the relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad.
'I am hopeful that you will see more focused attention on this relationship,' former US assistant secretary of state Nisha Desai Biswal tells Alokananda Chakraborty.
The US said that there has been no "significant impact" on its military to military relationship with Pakistan after Islamabad refused to release an American diplomat detained on possible murder charges.
Trump said the summit ended with no agreement because he was not willing to lift all the sanctions on North Korea.
The China-Pakistan partnership serves the interests of both partners by presenting India with a potential two-front theatre in the event of war with either country says Harsh V Pant.
Gen Naravane's visit to Nepal from November 4-6 is largely aimed at resetting bilateral ties that came under severe strain following a bitter border row between the two countries.
Called WikiLeaks Task Force or WTF, it is focused on the immediate impact of the most recently released files, The Washington Post reported.
The joint statement said Jaishankar and Wang agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.
Unveiled by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, four thousand diplomatic cables from the United States embassy in New Delhi reveal a difficult but increasingly warm relationship between India, an emerging power anxious about its security despite its size and increasing wealth, and the US, a superpower that is keen to be friends but very much on its own terms.
'Quiet back channel advice will probably be rendered by Saudi Arabia to India that international perception on both issues does not favour India and that it should be prudent to look inwards and introspect on where the failing has been,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The 47-year-old faces allegations that he publicly released secret documents relating to the United States.
In a strong response to China's objection to development of infrastructure on the Indian side of the LAC, New Delhi also asserted that Beijing has no locus standi to comment on India's internal matters.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that Beijing regards its relationship with New Delhi as one of the most important bilateral ties.
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
United States President Barack Obama has reiterated his administration's commitment towards building an active, cooperative and comprehensive relationship with China, which requires strong diplomatic and military ties. Obama's assurance to China came during his meeting with Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, at the White House. Obama recalled his two previous meetings with the Chinese president.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked his Pakistani counterpart, on Monday, to quicky arrest the leaders of a Pakistan-based Sunni group blamed by Tehran for a suicide attack that killed 42 people, including top officers of the elite Revolutionary Guard.
Kerry said Obama has called the relationship with India 'a defining relationship of this century'.
'We don't want confrontation; we are trying to build a cooperative relationship in which both sides have stakes in producing an improving climate of relations and responsible behaviour.' What does Shiv Shankar Menon, one of India's most brilliant diplomats and the former National Security Advisor, think of the Modi visit to the US, the Chinese stand-off in Ladakh and the situation on the LoC?
Karan Johar gets candid about his new show.
