The Taliban has its backers, notably Pakistan and China. Their purpose is to have a monstrous entity near India's northern borders to keep democratic, secular India off-guard, observes Amulya Ganguli.
For both India and China, the most likely option -- and the most challenging -- appears to be a freezing of the status quo.
'Wanting to see the bright side of things, we always told ourselves, 'It could have been worse!', when the situation got tough.' Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd), who helped rebuild the IAF's Car Nicobar air base after the 2004 tsunami, recalls the devastation on United Nations World Tsunami Awareness Day.
Searchers using sonar equipment on Wednesday located the wreckage of the ill-fated AirAsia plane carrying 162 people at the bottom of the Java Sea off Indonesia, even as bad weather hampered the recovery of many bloated bodies seen floating around the crash site.
Prime Minister Modi made a strategic blunder of Nehruvian proportions -- presuming no war can happen now, and the Chinese won't be a military threat and risk their economic interests, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'We know that our Indian partners are committed to that rules-based international order. There are any number of tenets in that order. One of them is that borders cannot be redrawn by force'
The Army made no attempt to ascertain the identity of the civilians returning from work on a pick-up truck before shooting them in Nagaland's Mon district on Saturday, a joint report by the state's Director General of Police T John Longkumer and Commissioner Rovilatuo Mor has said.
We have a generation of youth in our country with fire in their bellies and the 'tamanna' to emulate the Indian soldier. Such is the image that has been created by our soldiers over time. The proposal for civilians into the Military fray for a short stint must be considered favourably keeping the national interests foremost, says Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
Non-BJP chief ministers are retaliating. If the Centre can use its agencies to threaten, intimidate and jail its rivals, so can they. The fightback will get more intense, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'India enjoys the maneuverability of a coming big power.' 'It is this possibility that has persuaded Moscow to humour India and stayed Washington from getting punitive about India's neutrality on the Ukraine issue.'
Orsi was at the helm of AugustaWestland when the deal was struck and he is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribes.
'China, much more than Pakistan, is a credible potential adversary with the ability to hurt our interests.' 'It must figure higher in our national security concerns,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
A special court on Monday issued non-bailable warrants against two Italian nationals who were alleged middlemen in Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal case after ED said they were required to be interrogated to ascertain the money trail.
'People want to know the life led by those living in Pakistan.'
From restoring railway tracks to rescuing a drowning mother and her baby, and even a dog, the Indian Army and air force officers have come handy in the flood-hit areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
In an interview to ANI, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke on various issues, including the Balakot air strikes to the status of Kashmir to the party's manifesto.
For all those auto enthusiasts who thought Mahindra have only been manufacturing Jeeps and trucks in the '90s, Timeless Mahindra offers plenty of interesting surprises, discovers Rajesh Kareka/Rediff.com.
Unless each attack drone can be neutralised, India will be literally deploying elephants to stamp out ants -- and the ants may still survive! points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Poor governance and mediocre short-sighted politics are destroying the paradise that Goa was as its environment, water table, culture and way of life is drastically threatened by tourism and migration, points out Ramesh Menon.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in parts of Ranchi city after some policemen, including an Indian Police Service officer, and others were injured in Ranchi on Friday while trying to control a mob near a temple, an official said.
"The United States and China share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and that a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said in response to a question on previous successful attempts by China to block the UN designation of Azhar
A bill seeking stringent punishment including death penalty for hijackers and giving right to security forces to shoot down an aircraft, which may be used as a missile, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Rup Narayan Das reveals the towering Odisha leader's role in improving national security after the 1962 War with China.
Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary veteran of the Second World War, was a natural choice to raise, train and command the Special Frontier Force and mould them into a well oiled fighting machine, recalls his son Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd), who led SFF troops during the Kargil War.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russia -- already India's biggest arms supplier from 2014-18, accounting for 58 per cent of India's defence imports -- eyes more, reports Ajai Shukla.
The iconic bridge was opened to the public in the middle of World War II.
"We are making serious attempts to rescue people marooned in flood waters based on inputs we get from various sources, including people," asserted a top Indian Air Force official overseeing the marathon operations by his force amidst allegations by some people that forces had not reached all the affected people.
Lt Gen Naravane is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Army. In his 37 years of service, Lt Gen Naravane has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and five people have been detained, officials said.
The Rafale will surely be flying in Indian skies next year. But the way the BJP government has botched this will cast a shadow on defence acquisitions in the years to come.
It said the authorities were making all efforts to save the lives of these persons and the Indian Navy and planes and helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been deployed in the rescue operation.
"No terrorist organisation will be allowed to derail the dialogue process between Pakistan and India," Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif was quoted as saying by the Radio Pakistan on Saturday.
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is a masterpiece, and like most masterpieces of the cinema, it's a great act of folly, observes Sreehari Nair.
Pellissery's women continue to express the beauty in our common humanity. And often, these women go so far into expressing our hopes, desires, absurdities and follies that they end up acting at variance with the ethical prescriptions of our age. And this, I believe, is precisely why they remain "invisible" to a whole bunch of viewers, says Sreehari Nair.
Joginder Tuteja looks at Bollywood's ladies, where they will be calling the shots in their films.
'Even if someone other than Trump had become president, the US distancing from Pakistan and coming closer to India was already set in motion.' 'With Trump openly declaring his intent to take on Islamic extremism, the days of US political correctness are over,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
Gen Rawat is due for retirement on December 31 and top government sources said, if everything goes according to plan, then the government would name him as the country's first CDS before he hangs up his boots.
The Kerala government on Friday decided to recommend a judicial inquiry against central probe agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, which are investigating the gold and dollar smuggling cases.
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