If they can sit together and hammer out 'Black Sea Initiative' deal for much needed food shipments, surely, they should be able to address the madness of the larger military conflict?
It is a timely reminder that when faced with twin threats, India has succeeded by wisely choosing allies, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses, the UK's ministry of defence said on Thursday.
Observing that 140 United Nations member states have already voted to condemn Russia over its unprovoked war and the humanitarian crisis it has unleashed upon the people of Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield said Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should the international community allow Russia to use their role on the Council as a tool of propaganda to suggest they have a legitimate concern about human rights.
The Americans have expended a lot of diplomatic energy to coax India into toeing their line but India has refused to buckle under pressure. As Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, India has not taken anyone's side but its own side, points out Virendra Kapoor.
India abstained from a procedural vote taken in the United Nations Security Council to call for a rare special emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, even as New Delhi welcomed Moscow and Kyiv's decision to hold talks at the Belarus border.
Newly-elected Conservative Party leader and prime minister in waiting Liz Truss is among the senior British politicians known for championing deeper India-UK strategic and economic ties, describing them as a "sweet spot" of global trade dynamics.
'The Russian attack might be a wakeup call for Europe.'
In the second-biggest city of Kandahar, a long line of green armoured vehicles was driven in single file on Wednesday, with the group's flags attached to it, Dawn reported cities agencies.
Australia are still planning to host Afghanistan in the countries' first ever Test, Cricket Australia (CA) said, despite uncertainty raised after the Taliban seized power in the South Asian country.
Pakistan is inching towards a decision on reopening North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply routes, which were closed following a cross-border air strike in November, though it is expected to impose "tough conditions" like a hefty transit fee for the movement of container trucks and oil tankers. The issue of allowing the United States and its allies to resume using Pakistani routes for transporting supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan figured at a meeting of leaders.
India is witnessing trailers of future conflicts and its adversaries will continue with efforts to achieve their strategic aims, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said on Thursday delving into national security challenges emanating from China and Pakistan.
Supplies for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan are being transported through Pakistani airspace though land supply routes were closed by Islamabad last year, United States Ambassador Cameron Munter has said.
It is understood that India and the United States are not on the same page on the Ukrainian crisis.
China, the Ukraine crisis and Quad will dominate the discussions, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
Pakistan on Thursday said that the United States probe report on the last month's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers is "not based on facts".
Pakistani forces were "unusually accurate" as they fired shots on an Afghan-United States patrol on November 26, an American officer stationed in Afghanistan has said, providing new details about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation attack that could put fresh strains on the already tattered US-Pak relations.
Premier Li, replying to a question on China's refusal to criticise Russia's military action against Ukraine, said that utmost efforts should be made to support Russia and Ukraine in carrying forward ceasefire negotiations.
Just days after a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation airstrike on Pakistani border posts, another incident of "heavy artillery fire" between the two forces reportedly broke out early on Wednesday across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border but was "quickly defused" and there was no loss of life, according to a media report.
In what is seen as the first sign of China's exasperation over Russia's Ukraine war, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday raised 'questions and concerns' over the conflict in his meeting in Samarkand with Russian President Vladimir Putin who thanked Beijing for its 'balanced position' on the crisis.
The UK government has taken the unusual step of making a formal statement to warn of a Russian plot to install a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine amid growing tensions in the region.
'You are an instrument at the hands of one man with one ambition -- to resurrect the Soviet Union... For ambitions of one man, we are paying a very high price.'
Terrorists torched 10 tankers carrying oil for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan in southern Pakistan, injuring five persons including the vehicles' drivers, police and witnesses said on Monday.
'Which will not happen.' 'Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has expressly refuted Beijing's statement that normalcy was returning to Sino-Indian relations.'
At least 16 people were killed and several more injured when North Atlantic Treaty Organisation oil tankers bound for Afghanistan were targeted with bombs in the Pakistani border town of Landi Kotal on Saturday, officials said.
Pakistan would want to take full advantage of the situation to direct Taliban trained terrorists into the Kashmir Valley, alert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
China, which has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, has been opposing the Quad alliance since its formation.
It is learnt that Chinese Air Force planes had refuelled in Pakistan and Iran last month while on their way to Turkey to participate in a joint air exercise with the Turkish Air Force. On the way back, they refueled only in Iran. The air exercise preceded the recent visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Turkey.
Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and another three injured when North Aatlantic Treaty Organisation helicopters shelled a Pakistani outpost in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, in the fourth cross-border attack into Pakistan in less than a week.
As Pakistan fumed over aerial attacks by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's forces inside its territory that killed nearly 50 militants, the Pentagon has asserted that armed forces have the right to self defence and the United States followed the appropriate protocol in the situation. "The armed forces have the right to self defence. They have been attacked and they respond and they notify the Pakistani government about it," said the Pentagon.
The Indian Navy has decided that the twin-seat Rafale will not be disqualified on the basis of its inability to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to 'consequences'.
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief parliamentary leaders of various political parties on August 26 on the developments in war-torn Afghanistan.
The US president is deeply grateful for the honour, courage and determination of the US' men and women who served in Afghanistan for almost two decades, as well as the sacrifices made not just by those troops, but also by their families, a senior Biden administration official told reporters during a conference call.
Thousands of American, Afghan and British troops launched an attack on the watery Taliban fortress of Marja on Saturday morning.
India cannot choose its geography and devise regional strategies to dovetail into the Western Indian Ocean hypothesis conceived in the Pentagon, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistani Taliban terrorists on Tuesday carried out two attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation container trucks in the Khyber tribal region in country's northwest, killing one person and injuring another in the first strikes since supply routes to Afghanistan were reopened earlier this month.
An understanding between Pakistan and the United States on reopening the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply routes to Afghanistan after a seven-month blockade may soon be replaced by a new bilateral logistics pact.
'We spent Rs 59,000 crore on acquiring 36 Rafales and we do not know if we will ever use them. The chances are that we never will,' argues Aakar Patel.
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