India abstained from a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution regarding Afghanistan, citing the need for a balanced approach that combines incentives and disincentives, and calling for new initiatives to address the humanitarian crisis.
'Non-compatible with Western Civilization' is about as vague and jingoistic as it gets and Trump saying this gives full license to his acolytes to go full throttle on making life as difficult and scary as possible for as many non-white people as possible,' notes Sree Sreenivasan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday met Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir and discussed regional security, counter-terrorism and matters of mutual interest.
Pakistan and China have submitted a joint bid at the UN Security Council to designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing - Majeed Brigade - as a terrorist entity under the Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
'Scoring those half-centuries and winning the trophy for India is indeed special.'
Jatinder Singh has played 61 ODIs and 64 T20Is for Oman.
A UN Security Council report states that The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack and published a photograph of the attack site. The report also cites assertions that the attack could not have happened without the support of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).
'Trump is not shy when he is frustrated with countries'
India-US relations, like Rome, were not built in a day, nor can they be demolished in a day.
All said and done, when the new global order emerges, India can only remain with the democracies, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'We need to get a better share of the pie because we were the cash cows for a long time.'
In a statement after a meeting between Trump and Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir at the White House on Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations -- the media wing of the Pakistan Army -- said they also discussed joint counterterrorism efforts.
On his 200th birth anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra traces the life, thought, and legacy of Dadabhai Naoroji, the Grand Old Man of India.
Afghanistan unlikely to give NOCs for Mujeeb, Naveen and Farooqi, putting IPL participation in doubt
'...it should not delude itself into thinking that India's security or its great-power ambitions will be advanced by those partnerships.'
'Instead, what India should focus on is on riding out the next three-and-a-half years of Trump's presidency with minimal damage to itself.'
We have nothing to gain by raising our concerns internationally as our narrative has got entangled with several controversial concepts in the United Nations, asserts Ambassador T N Sreenivasan.
A senior Afghan interim government official on Monday confirmed that strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Paktika and Khost along the Pakistan border have taken place.
>The Indian Army still uses old British-era names and recruits soldiers based on caste or region, which hurts national unity, argues Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Special United States envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has resigned after leading the American diplomatic campaign in the volatile region for two years as President Barack Obama's pointsman to the region. Grossman would be replaced by Deputy Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan David D Pearce in an acting capacity. His resignation would come into effect on December 14.
The 'mediation' by the United States from behind the scene on the diplomatic track appears to be once again working, which calls on both Delhi and Islamabad to show restraint and pull back from a military confrontation, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"Special Representative Holbrooke will also travel to India and the United Kingdom where he will have additional meetings with counterparts and government officials," a State Department announcement said, without mentioning the specific dates when he would be in India.
'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'
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan and was at a depth of 51 km.
Marc Grossman, former United States under secretary of state for political affairs, is expected to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as Barack Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The post has been vacant since Richard Holbrooke, 68, who was the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan for two years, died suddenly last December.An announcement in this regard is expected to be made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The planned withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will not lead to the collapse of the war-torn nation, a senior United States official has said.
America's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, will travel to the two countries and to India later this week as part of an orientation trip.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan S K Lambah met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discussed a range of issues related to the bilateral ties, including plans for continuing the US-India Strategic Dialogue.
New Delhi will host the second tri-lateral dialogue with United States and Afghanistan next week, which among other things will focus on co-operation between the three countries post-2014 when the US forces are scheduled to hand over control for security operations to Afghan forces.
Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on Wednesday arrived in Islamabad, his first visit to the country, as part of efforts by the two sides to reset their ties in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.
The medical supplies were sent on a return flight that had brought 10 Indians and 94 Afghans to Delhi from Kabul on Friday.
'Communist China continues to aggressively expand its domain in the Indo-Pacific region.' 'It's crucial for the USA to continue its support in countering these malicious tactics.' 'India, along with other nations in the region, is not alone.'
The US spent $1.5 million a day since 2001 fighting the opium war in Afghanistan. After hundreds of airstrikes failed to curtail the Taliban's $200-million-a-year opium trade, the US military quietly ended the campaign when the Trump administration officials engaged in direct peace talks with the Taliban, notes Atanu Biswas.
In the meeting, Ngodup Dongchung, an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile and representative of the Dalai Lama, thanked Blinken for the continued support by the US to the Tibetan movement.
'The negotiation was a result of -- based on the judgment that we weren't winning the war and therefore time was not on our side and better to make a deal sooner than later'
Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Wednesday that the group of about 100 UN personnel from across the system travelled from Kabul to Almaty, where they will continue their work remotely.
It is the first time in nearly nine years that India's foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained tense over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Holbrooke is currently in Afghanistan after completing a two-day visit to Pakistan. He is said to have told the Pakistani leadership during his visit that there was a need to keep India informed about developments taking place in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
United States President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the nomination of popular Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth, 44, as his defence secretary.
Russia and China are tight-fisted and Iran is broke and none of them has the political will or capacity to bankroll the Afghan economy, which only the US can, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Today is the day I say goodbye to the game that has given me everything.'