The Trump administration has a "very positive view" of the Indo-US relationship and a lot of interest in taking the ties forward, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Saturday after his wide-ranging talks with senior Cabinet members and top officials in Washington.
Karzai will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after which the two countries are expected to ink a strategic pact to streamline the various assistance programmes of India and institutionalise bilateral security dialogue.
'... For the India-US relationship to continue its positive trajectory, it will require India to adapt to a different approach.' Nisha Desai Biswal -- who as the Obama administration's point person for South Asia was in the inner circle of all the Obama-Modi Summits -- tells Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar why she is hopeful that India and the US are on an irreversible forward course.
India has conveyed its concerns to the top security and intelligence officials of the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia over the possible implications of Pakistan's links with the Taliban and various terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan for regional security and stability, people familiar with the development said.
The annual high-level strategic and economic dialogue between the United States and China began in Beijing on Thursday with Chinese President Hu Jintao calling for a "new type of relationship" between the two countries to break the traditional belief that big powers only have conflicts.
Since the 1984 national elections, no party has won a clear majority in the lower house of Parliament, a US intelligence report has observed. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
An agreement between India and Pakistan, however tenuous, has its own meaning and impact. We have not heard the last word about the ceasefire agreement, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Prime Minister Modi is visiting Palestine, UAE and Oman from February 9 to February 12.
'What matters is that India's perspective on global issues -- climate change, intellectual property, free trade, trade routes being kept free, digital technology -- are listened to with respect,' says Ambassador B S Prakash.
So far, almost every positive development in terms of the bilateral ties has been overtaken by innate hostility that is often driven by popular sentiments.
'Steve was the foremost strategic analyst on South Asia,' remembers Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit India early next month as part of a three-nation Asia tour to consult with the Indian leadership on key regional and global issues including Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Myanmar.
'For Pakistan, the comfortable old calculations and certainties are no longer valid.' 'Strikes on Indian targets now carry a high risk of retaliation and escalation,' notes Ajai Shukla.
'This visit will further the convergence of our political, economic and strategic interests,' Modi tweeted.
The IAF has deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft in the key frontier air bases in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control.
At a dialogue between the Ministry of External Affairs, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London and IDSA, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai spoke extensively on the topic of 'Forging Stability in Asia'. He talked about the challenges and goals that India faces while trying to strengthen its ties across the Asian continent.
The US side had pushed for removal of price caps on medical equipment such as coronary stents and a commitment by India to reduce trade imbalance
India and China met and spoke a lot this year, but failed to produce any meaningful results.
The talks between the two armies are going to be held this week at multiple locations including Patroling point 14 (Galwan area), Patrolling point 15, and Hot Springs area, top government sources said.
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
'One lesson to emerge out of the Modi-Putin summit is that India can be more self-confident that it possesses inherent strengths to leverage its interlocutors to influence Pakistani policies,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday proposed collaboration between India and China in global fora like World Trade Organisation and G-20 and in the financial sector, as top planners of the two countries had a "productive" round of talks at the first Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing.
India cannot afford to adopt any coercive measures against the military even if it disapproves the military takeover, notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
India on Friday said the onus is on China to address the remaining unresolved issues relating to the eastern Ladakh row and that peace and tranquillity along the frontier were key for the restoration of normal relations between the two sides.
The defence minister also said that India attaches importance to peaceful resolution of differences through dialogue and is committed to respect various agreements inked for maintenance of peace along the borders.
In the first highest level face-to-face contact between the two sides after border tension erupted in eastern Ladakh in early May, Singh and Wei met for two hours and 20 minutes in Moscow on Friday evening on the sidelines of a meeting of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Lawmakers were not going to be in town on that particular day, and would be in their constituencies preparing for the mid-term elections in November. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
'The Indian version is that the two top diplomats merely exchanged pleasantries, while the Pakistani side characterised the encounter as an 'informal dialogue'.' 'The truth, as always in such piquant situations, is somewhere in between.' 'It stands to reason that ice has been broken,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Like China, India too should connect the dots and move ahead with a long-term perspective in Afghanistan, advises Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan's journey to make,' says Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the government's geo-political flagship initiative "Raisina Dialogue-II".
'Once positions are hardened and troops start building defences, it is difficult for soldiers to step back.'
Using purchasing power parity estimates narrows the differences between the two economies.
As per the schedule released by the White House on late Saturday night, Trump will spend 100 minutes at the NRG Stadium.
'They are aware that they have been unable to bring about any change in the security situation in Kashmir and have failed to internationalise the Kashmir issue.'
The last time the Chinese military had taken Indian soldiers captive was in July 1962 after a clash in Galwan Valley.
'Both sides should, therefore, focus on easing tensions in the friction areas by refraining from any actions that may lead to an escalation in the situation'
'Even as discord over US-India trade and commerce colours diplomatic relations, defence relations between the two countries remain on a firm footing,' points out Ajai Shukla.
The two PMs called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure.
Concluding his whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday left for New York where he will have a packed schedule that includes talks with US President Barack Obama.
The United States on Wednesday sharpened its criticism of China's human rights record, citing handling of restive Tibet region, triggering a strong retort from Beijing.
