Last month, a group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott the Champions Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan.
'It is high time that the 'war on terror' is removed from our diplomatic toolbox.' 'Certainly, our parliamentarians have no role in it,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'This strike has certainly enhanced your image.' 'Otherwise, people would have called you a damp squib, capable of doing nothing except talking big.'
It is important for India to pay close attention to both the tone and substance of authoritative remarks coming out of Pakistan, explains former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
'We are too important to want to be paired with Pakistan but too intensely connected to it to successfully detach ourselves,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump for acknowledging Pakistan's role in counter-terrorism efforts after the country arrested a wanted terrorist. Trump thanked the Pakistani government for helping arrest "Mohammad Shareefullah", also known as Jafar, who supported and conducted activities on behalf of ISIS-K in support of multiple lethal attacks, including the Abbey Gate attack in 2021. Sharif said the terrorist, an Afghan national, had been apprehended in an operation along the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan was waiting for an opportunity to bring the Jammu and Kashmir issue to the global agenda and resorted to the terrorism route to provoke India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'...and the country should be impoverished completely.' 'Once this is done, the political class would take over and then play a part in real democracy where the army is under the control of the government, not vice-versa.'
'Every decision India makes along the LoC, it must also consider implications along the LAC.'
'There's a lot of sense in what Prime Minister Modi did, but the Indian government has to be really prepared for a really sharp escalation spiral.'
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
England previously faced Afghanistan at the 50-overs Cricket World Cup in 2023, as well as at the Twenty20 World Cup in 2022.
'We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan'.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the 2008 Mumbai terror attack marked a turning point in relations with Pakistan when Indians collectively felt that such behaviour from a neighbouring country could no longer be tolerated. Speaking at Charotar University of Science and Technology, Jaishankar acknowledged India's transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade, while Pakistan has remained unchanged, continuing with what he termed as its "bad habits."
'India won't take anything from Pakistan lying down.'
'It was such a joy for me to return there today -- after 13 long years -- to be surrounded by the mountains, dip my hands in the cold river and laugh with my beloved cousins.'
'I am worried that Pakistan will still feel compelled to take substantive military action beyond this apparent drone activity.' 'If so, the crisis could persist for a while more and dangerous days are still ahead.'
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Asim Munir and his brand of short-sighted army officers give no inkling of paying heed, changing course or learning lessons from the past, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Trump thanked the Government of Pakistan for "helping arrest this monster".
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
At least 12 persons, including four children, were killed and 30 injured as two explosive-laden vehicles rammed into the boundary wall of the main cantonment in Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday while the army personnel neutralised at least six terrorists.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from hit-and-run attacks to carrying out sophisticated operations with tactical precision. The group's tactics and targets have become increasingly audacious, targeting security forces, Chinese nationals, and innocent civilians. Experts attribute the BLA's evolution to various factors, including the leadership of Bashir Zeb, the group's growing intelligence network, and its exploitation of the grievances of the Baloch people. The BLA's actions are a cause for concern, as the group's sophisticated attacks pose a major challenge to security forces.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said he supported calls for a boycott of Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next month.
Present at the signing ceremony was the Taliban's rarely seen Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who lost out in a power struggle last year to be prime minister.
The possibilities of this serviceable thriller are immense but the makers prefer to play it safe and hold back the daredevil in the diplomat's clothing, observes Sukanya Verma.
Mamundzay was appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government and he has been operating as the Afghan envoy even after the Taliban came to power in August 2021.
Joe Root's century in vain as England were shown the door.
Afghanistan women set to return to cricket field after four-year wait.
The Taliban's remarks came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a $25 million development aid package for Afghanistan in the Union Budget.
"If they are a terror organisation, why are you (GoI) talking to them? If they are not a terror organisation, why are you banning their bank accounts. Why are you not recognizing their government? Make up your mind," he said.
An Afghan national working at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad sustained injuries when unidentified persons opened fire at his vehicle. India had closed operations at the consulate in 2020 but a number of local staffers were working at the mission. The Afghan staff member of the consulate, identified as Wadood Khan, was reportedly working as a translator. Khan had left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and went to India. He reportedly returned to Afghanistan few months back and rejoined the consulate.
Ahmed Shah Massoud's assassination, 9/11 and the defeat and ejection of the Taliban suggested a break in Afghanistan's history, but the events of August 2021 and the Taliban's return shows how deeper continuities remained in place, points out T C A Raghavan, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir visited Balochistan on Saturday amid clashes in the restive province in which 18 security personnel and 23 terrorists have been killed in the last 24 hours. The army chief was given a comprehensive brief on the prevailing security situation in the province and offered prayers at the funeral of the slain soldiers. He also visited the injured soldiers in the Combined Military Hospital Quetta. The military said the terrorists were killed in different areas of troubled Balochistan in the last 24 hours. Terror attacks have increased since the banned militant Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government.
Afghanistan may be faced with some off-field distractions in Pakistan with Group B rivals England and South Africa being urged to boycott their matches.
A delegation led by J P Singh, joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) at the ministry of external affairs, visited Kabul on Thursday, June 2, 2022, to to survey Indian developmental projects in Afghanistan.
'Decline of the UN did not start with the Trump administration. It has been happening over the last two decades or more.'
Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesperson of the Taliban published new 'instructions' attributed to their leader, Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada, and their implementation was called the 'Sharia responsibility' of the people and the media, reported Voice of America (VOA).
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