Blinken and Indian leaders on Wednesday will discuss a plethora of pressing issues such as the fluid situation in Afghanistan, regional security concerns, COVID-19 response and ways to boost Indo-Pacific engagement, people familiar with the agenda of talks said.
There is growing acceptance of the idea in the international community that engaging the Taliban government is a far better approach than ostracising it, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Two Indian aircraft would be permitted to operate from the Kabul airport which is under the control of American security forces, government sources told ANI.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Dr S Jaishankar told Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa that it was "a very nice meeting and President Barack Obama was extremely cordial."
The Taliban knows that Washington holds the key, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A former Australian defence official, who headed the search for the missing Malaysian jet MH370 in the Indian Ocean, will lead Australia's MH17 plane investigation and recovery operation in Ukraine.
On the backdrop of surgical strike, the US advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.
Exhausted but elated, around 600 Indian students, who waged a tough battle for survival before being pulled out of war-battered Ukrainian city of Sumy, are now on way to Poland on a train from where they will be flown back home likely on Thursday.
Srinagar-born Farah Pandith, President Barack Obama's special representative to Muslim communities worldwide, recently made her first trip to India after her high-level appointment. She had 'a great trip,' she told rediff.com, and 'was very humbled to be able to go back.'
People familiar with the development said the Indians were flown back to Delhi as part of India's mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul following its takeover by the Taliban over a week back.
Wang said that the situation in Ukraine has changed rapidly and that China laments the outbreak of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and is 'extremely concerned' with the harm to civilians, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Two Russian flights with oxygen concentrators, lung ventilation equipment, bedside monitors, medicines, including Coronavir and other essential pharmaceutical items landed in India to help the country in its fight against the COVID-19 surge.
On Tuesday, Rao said there was a possibility of the PM's visit to Pune, and if that happens, it would be aimed at reviewing the status of the vaccine candidate for coronavirus infection and to know about its launch, production and distribution mechanisms.
The reasons for China's negative response are located in its territorial dispute with India but also to its grand designs of dominating the region from its previous position of being merely a "balancer" between India and Pakistan, points out Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies at JNU.
"We realised no one is going to come to help us and it is up to us now," 20-year-old Ashna Pandita told PTI over the phone as the train took them to the western city of Ukraine, about 80 km from the Poland border, where the fighting has been relatively less.
Special United States Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said he would soon head towards the troubled region in South Asia to have a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground.In his acceptance speech, soon after he was appointed as the Special US Representative for the troubled region by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Holbrooke termed the Pakistan situation as extremely complex.
The US has the distinction of destroying a flawed but functioning State thrice since 1979. Pakistan has been their constant accomplice, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Indian Army sources said Pakistan Army is using Kashmiris in PoK as cannon fodder and Indian security forces are ready to deal with any eventualities along the LoC.
He said as per the US, India was a sovereign state, so "what are we then?" he asked.
"The letter stated that the no-confidence motion was being tabled even before it was filed, which means the Opposition was in contact with them," Khan alleged in his address to the nation.
In its short history, Pakistan has become a geography synonymous with terror.
Playing down its unsuccessful bid to establish diplomatic ties with Bhutan, China on Monday said it is glad to see New Delhi and Thimphu develop their relations further during the just-concluded visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government's briefing is expected to focus on its evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the situation in the war-torn country in the wake of the Taliban seizing control of almost all key Afghan towns and cities, including Kabul.
President Zelenskyy's telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi came hours after India abstained on a UN Security Council resolution by the United States that 'deplores in the strongest terms' Russia's 'aggression' against Ukraine.
Chinese Foreign Ministry said international community should respect sovereignty and independence of the Maldives.
A top official of the Barack Obama administration on Saturday said that Indian Muslims are not terrorists, though many of them are increasingly tired of being defined as such. "I talk about the bloggers that I meet in India who are tired of Muslims being defined as terrorists," Farah Pandith, the United States Special Representative to the Muslim Community, said. "They're getting out there and talking about what's happening in India," she said.
The appointment of veteran diplomat Derek Mitchell, who was till now the Special US Representative and Policy Coordinator for Myanmar, was confirmed by the Senate on Friday and he is expected to leave for that country soon.
Troops from 17 countries, including Pakistan and Russia, formed part of 1000 foreign soldiers who took part in China's first military parade aimed at highlighting the excesses committed by Japanese troops against Chinese in the WW II in which according Chinese historians over 20 million people were killed, eight million forced into labour and thousands of women held as sex slaves.
Guterres, who opened an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Ukraine late Wednesday, in his brief off-the-cuff remarks said 'if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died'.
"China has been promoting peace and stability in this region. We hope that Pakistan and India will maintain friendly relations," he told a media briefing in Beijing.
Devangshu Datta enjoyed the Netflix series thoroughly!
The President-elect also announced the nomination of former Secretary of State John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the first such official to sit on the national security council.
Top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan engaged in verbal sparring during a discussion on cross-border terrorism and presence of terrorist safe havens, at the United Nations Security Council.
North Korea's foreign minister accused President Trump of declaring war against his country.
'The Indian side has realised that not talking to Pakistan has not served any useful purpose.'
'Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai? Don't you believe it. I don't trust the Chinese one bit,' Nehru told Gopalaswamy Parthasarathi before he traveled to China as India's ambassador. Asking GP to be ever vigilant, Nehru advised the diplomat to send telegrams on important matters only to him. Many such anecdotes from a long and eventful career as diplomat and bureaucrat crowd the pages of GP: 1912-1995, discovers Uttaran Das Gupta.
'China has refused to act upon the threat posed by Pakistan using terrorism as an instrument of its foreign policy.' says Rajeev Sharma.
Tirumurti also said India is 'deeply concerned' about the welfare and security of the Indian community, including a large number of Indian students, in Ukraine.
United States President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American, Richard Rahul Verma, as the next US Ambassador to India, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington later this month.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances