The meeting took place two days after a military tribunal sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadav to death on charges of spying
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
'New Delhi feels that given the internal dynamics in Pakistan and the overwhelming powers wielded by the army, one will have to wait for better times to see any meaningful progress in the India-Pakistan relationship,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy.
'By the time he came out after nearly five hours, he had a one-to-one conversation with the President, a delegation-level meeting, a reception, a dinner, a tour of the White House and a joint statement of a kind none of his predecessors ever had,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Aziz said that when it comes to cases involving the death penalty, the international court has always given a stay order.
'The sooner Pakistan and India face these geopolitical realities, the better it will be for their own security and prosperity,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"We need to have further discussion and conversation so that we can have better understanding and can work closely on it. We are ready to do that," said a Chinese official.
'Pyongyang's strategy seems to be a cry to be treated as equal with the US and Beijing and this aspiration is premised on equipping itself with weapons as devastating as theirs,' says Rajaram Panda.
'If the new regime in Kabul wants diplomatic recognition, or to unlock the billions that are currently frozen, they will have to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave the country, to respect the rights of women and girls, to prevent Afghanistan from, again, becoming an incubator for global terror, because that would be disastrous for Afghanistan'
One of the addresses which have been dropped by the UN Security Council's Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee was found similar to that of a residence of Islamabad's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi.
"Ambassador Mittal raised India's concern that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner," it added.
In a fresh twist to the decades-old Kashmir dispute, the "president" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has said that talks can be held with India on any proposal for an independent state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Amid deepening concerns in China over the regrouping of the ETIM, blamed by Beijing for all the violent attacks in its volatile Xinjiang province and elsewhere in the country, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Mullah Baradar at Tianjin and sought to prevail on him to build a 'positive image and establish a broad and inclusive political structure that suits Afghanistan's national realities'.
'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.
The decision was taken during a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the southwestern the Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday.
Xi said China is ready to work with Pakistan to forge a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era.
Russia and the US began second round of negotiations on securing Syria's chemical arsenal, hoping the high-stakes talks would lead to broader peace efforts, even as Damascus submitted application to UN for joining the chemical weapons convention.
Members of the Legislative Council asked how some former legislators could enter the Vidhan Bhavan premises amid COVID-19-related restrictions and sought a report on the matter.
Syria has agreed with the Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons stocks under international control to "uproot US aggression", hours after President Barack Obama said he would "absolutely" put on hold any military strike on the country if it does so.
In his opening remarks at a ministerial meeting in Tokyo of the Quadrilateral coalition, also known as 'Quad', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India remained committed to a rules-based world order, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
After a joint meeting of the media bodies, a resolution was passed which said that they condemn the arrest and intimidation of media persons in the Kashmir Valley.
Maj Gen Lodin succeeds Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana, who completes his two-year assignment as chief military observer and head of mission for the UNMOGIP on July 2.
'Any 'de-escalation' that brings down tensions will deprive the BJP of a plank with seamless possibilities to project PM Modi as the 'Iron prime minister' and hype up jingoism in the upcoming election campaign,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
United Nations General Assembly on Friday appointed Antonio Guterres as the UN Secretary General for a second term beginning January 1, 2022, days after the powerful Security Council unanimously recommended his name to the 193-member body for re-election.
The suspension of US aid to Pakistan, which was announced by President Donald Trump in January 2018, remained in effect throughout 2019, the State Department said.
Guterres said in Islamabad that he was concerned over the situation in Kashmir, and that he was ready to mediate between India and Pakistan to resolve the long pending issue.
If New Delhi finds itself out in the cold in Afghanistan, both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have only themselves to blame. Each has been in power for a full decade from 2001, without reaching out to the Taliban, points out Ajai Shukla.
He praised the "very bold move" taken by China's central bank to stop financial transactions with North Korea.
Why are we glorifying a place of a hostile nation, he said.
The US is not in a forgiving mood for being humiliated in such a manner by an insurgent force and made to look 'loser' internationally, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Soon after Prime Minister Modi's assertion, the G20 countries also came down heavily on terrorism.
The Pakistani PM explained how the war-like scenario could erupt in the middle of the current tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. He said Kashmiris would protest and India would launch a crackdown on them.
India shifted gears in rejuvenating strategic ties with its major partners like the US and Russia and focused on drumming up global support for its distinct strategy in the Indo-Pacific to check Beijing's increasing muscle-flexing in the region.
The two countries also decided to expand trade and commercial ties holding that there are opportunities to exploit untapped economic potential in the two countries.
Brinkmanship in the Taiwan Strait will not only be a recipe for disaster to both China and Taiwan, but also to international peace and stability, warns Rup Narayan Das.
Glimpses of the final days of the 1965 War, as seen from the diary then defence minister Y B Chavan maintained during the war.
United States President-elect Joseph Biden has always been a strong supporter of India and India-US partnership since his days in Senate and later as a Vice-President.
Will the unpredictable North Korean leader provoke conflict on the Korean peninsula?
Rajaram Panda explains why the US president needs to restrain himself and build a relationship with China to put any credible pressure on North Korea.
Any settlement with Pakistan won't last unless it comes with big power guarantees, says Shekhar Gupta.
