On January 20, Taliban men armed with Kalashnikovs and suicide vests attacked the landmark Intercontinental Hotel and killed around 25 people, going from room to room searching for foreigners during the more than 12-hour ordeal.
Karzai has steadfastly opposed direct talks between the US and the Taliban, wanting Afghan ownership of the "reconciliation process", as the reintegration of the Taliban into the mainstream is referred to.
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Haider's release was the second successful instance of a dramatic rescue in a high-profile kidnapping case after slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer's son Shahbaz, who was abducted in 2011, was found in March after spending nearly five years in captivity.
Jawaharlal Nehru did not unfurl the Tricolour at the Red Fort on August 15, 1947. But, in a gesture of nationalistic symbolism -- one that has endured by repetition over the 76 years of independent India -- Nehru took to the ramparts at Red Fort's Lahori Gate on August 16, 1947, unfurled the Tricolour there and delivered his first Independence Day speech.
Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif will visit Afghanistan tomorrow to meet the new leaders there and discuss security issues, including the thorny one of Pakistani Taliban militants hiding there.
The billions India invested in dams, schools, etc in Afghanistan will be gone. The Hindu and Sikh population of Afghanistan has already shrunk from some 200,000 to about 500, points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States Eklil Ahmad Hakimi has not ruled out the possibility of India training Afghanistan's security forces and national army sometime in the future if the necessity arises.
The activation of diplomatic channels is likely to yield better results than a simmering hostility, recommends Ajai Shukla.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid homage to the fallen soldiers at the newly-built National War Memorial in the nation's capital on the Republic Day for the first time instead of the Amar Jawan Jyoti beneath the India Gate arch.
The PM will pay homage to fallen soldiers at the newly-built National War Memorial in New Delhi on the Republic Day instead of Amar Jawan Jyoti beneath the India Gate arch.
'The decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment.'
'Trump's new discovery is that Pakistan and its army are virtually god's gift to mankind.' 'They are required to facilitate a relatively orderly American exit from Afghanistan,' points out Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan.
Robust military preparedness along the entire perimeter of our nation is the only iron-clad permanent guarantee for our security, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
New Delhi and Beijing are the only two regional capitals that have commented on US President Donald Trump's speech on August 21 outlining the way forward in Afghanistan. The Indian foreign ministry statement was effusive in praise, while the Chinese statement has been one of cautious and guarded hope. Delhi has identified itself with Trump's Afghan strategy, whereas the Chinese stance is calibrated -- observant and objective, keeping a distance, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Their leaders in the provinces, which have been under the control of Taliban commanders for several months now, speak the language of the bigot. Women are known to have been abducted and enslaved. Several young girls have simply disappeared.
'A six month extension, if not extended further, would make General Bajwa a lame duck chief, altering the balance of his equations with the senior peer group of lieutenant generals,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
The NWM pays tribute to soldiers who laid down their lives defending the nation during India-China war in 1962, Indo-Pak wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Srilanka and in the Kargil conflict of 1999.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Monday that his government will allow India to send a humanitarian shipment of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to neighbouring Afghanistan through its territory after finalisation of the transit modalities.
'The Delhi-Washington stalemate can end only if India's concern over trans-border terrorism is addressed.' 'The Indian security establishment expects a spike in terrorist attacks in the months ahead.' 'And there is every likelihood that India may retaliate against Pakistan at some point,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
P B Chandra reports from Kabul on the Afghan presidential election, that has entered a run-off stage for the first time. The battle now is between the two frontrunners Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, with Abdullah holding the edge.
India and Saudi Arabia on Monday called on states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries and prevent access to weapons, including missiles and drones, to commit acts of terror.
WWhat Pakistan faces in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is virulent insurgency and terrorism, fuelled by its association with Al Qaeda
Remember the US withdrawal agreement was signed in February 2020. In the intervening period, a proper evacuation plan ought to have been in place. It was not. Consequently, tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked as interpreters, drivers, suppliers of goods and services, etc, face brutal retribution from the Taliban, Virendra Kapoor points out.
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
As the western forces prepare to leave Afghanistan in the coming year, India stands at a crossroads where it remains keen to preserve its interests in Afghanistan but has refused to step up its role as a regional security provider. New Delhi needs to recognise that there is no short-cut to major power status, says Harsh V Pant
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
The United States is going to retain a laser focus on its counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said on Friday, and warned the Taliban of a forceful response to any attack on American forces or disruption of its operations at the Kabul airport.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
'This army has lost Pakistan's territory, ideology, financial and intellectual capital, ruined its institutions, democracy, the respect for its passport and, like it or not, reduced its status to a globally acknowledged university of jihad,' says Shekhar Gupta.
All Indians in the mission are safe, said MEA.
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Modi said the coming together of SAARC leaders will lead to effective outcomes and benefit citizens in the fight against coronavirus. The PM on Friday had proposed formulation of a joint strategy by the SAARC nations to fight coronavirus, a suggestion that was backed by all the member states.
Expressing concern over the situation in Afghanistan, a group of eminent persons, including former ministers K Natwar Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Wednesday urged the government to continue engaging with the Taliban and not allow any political party to use the developments in that country to communally polarise Indian society for electoral gains.
The winners of the annual US Military Photographer of the Year competition showcase the compelling body of work military photographers compiled in 2014.
Despite dependence on the ISI for years of sustenance, Taliban leaders may harbour resentment over the ISI's excessive control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has asked the United States to target the hideouts of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and their chief Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
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