The activation of diplomatic channels is likely to yield better results than a simmering hostility, recommends Ajai Shukla.
A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake with the epicentre in Afghanistan shook Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 250 others in both the countries, authorities said on Wednesday.
A closure of the Indian mission in Kabul will be a Himalayan blunder at this historic juncture when the wheels of diplomacy and politics are set to accelerate in Afghanistan, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
'The UPA was never soft on Pakistan, terrorists and even China, but Sonia Gandhi's Congress rightly earned a "soft" image on issues of hard national interest, leaving the field open for Modi to take it and wrap it around with his implicit Hindutva,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Leading players from top countries are clearly already struggling to cope with the demands of international cricket's packed calendar.
A special aircraft of the Indian Air Force was sent on Saturday to bring back the Indian diplomats, officials and other staff members including a group of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel.
An Indian national kidnapped in Afghanistan four months back has died in captivity, but the exact cause is not yet known. 38-year-old Simon Paramanathan, who was working as a chef in an Italian food company 'Fiano' in the Herat province of Afghanistan, was abducted on October 13 last year by a terrorist outfit identifying itself as 'Mujahideen'.
The incident happened after thousands of Afghans gathered at the Kabul airport to seek an evacuation flight amid Taliban's takeover of the country, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The last commercial flight between India and Afghanistan was operated by Air India on Kabul-Delhi route on August 15, the day Kabul fell to the Taliban.
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
An explosion went off inside Kabul's main cricket stadium during a domestic league match on Friday, injuring four people, an official of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said.
An Indian national, who was kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan nearly a month ago, was freed on Sunday following an operation by the security forces in that country. Muhammad Naeem, 40, who was kidnapped along with a Nepalese citizen on April 21, was in good condition. The men, contracted to supply logistics to Afghan police training camps, were kidnapped by unknown militants, while they were traveling in western Adraskan district bordering Iran.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, was on Thursday c sent back to a Rawalpindi jail after a court here remanded him to 14 days judicial custody for the abduction of an Afghan national.
The aircraft landed at Dushanbe in Tajikistan after evacuating the Indians, they said, adding the flight is expected to arrive at the Hindon airbase near Delhi in the evening.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he stands "squarely behind his decision" to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan as he blamed the Afghan leadership for giving in to the Taliban without any fight. He also warned the Taliban of swift and forceful response from the US if they attack American personnel or disrupt their operations in Afghanistan.
Former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled to the United Arab Emirates before the Taliban seized power last month, on Wednesday apologised to the people for leaving the country abruptly, saying he believed it was the 'only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her six million people'.
Mattis said there can be 'no tolerance to terrorism safe havens'.
Sukanya Verma gives us a lowdown on all those wonderful movies she saw and movies you need to see as and when they arrive to a screen or streaming space near you.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi is hoping to arrange a meeting with an Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him dressed in a striped plastic bag jersey went viral, Kabul's football federation said on Monday.
The 30-year-old Shafaq, who made his Afghanistan debut in 2009 and has played 24 one-day internationals and 46 Twenty20 internationals, will be banned from all forms of cricket.
Saleem, 20, has yet to represent the national team in any format while Rasooli has shown strong form in the Shpageeza Cricket League, Afghanistan's domestic T20 tournament, after recovering from a finger injury.
The Taliban's rise will see an increase in infiltration on India's western border and terrorist groups in Pakistan will get funding from the Taliban, warns Brigadier Rajamani Kannan (retd).
Pakistan's national flag-carrier on Monday ran its first commercial flight to Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August.
CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul on Monday with Baradar in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
On paper, though, PBKS looks a tad more stronger than KKR.
The US has the distinction of destroying a flawed but functioning State thrice since 1979. Pakistan has been their constant accomplice, explains Shekhar Gupta.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer."
Terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday.
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.
'Worshippers weren't killed during prayers even in India or Israel but it happened in Pakistan'
India on Tuesday announced a package of nearly $150,000 for providing relief to victims and reconstructing a mosque damaged in a devastating suicide attack on its consulate last week.
The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the Tamil Nadu that his government would spare "no effort" to ensure the safe release of Indian priest Alexis Prem Kumar, who was abducted in Afganistan last week.
In Kabul's national sports stadium, two young women fencers take guard, their faces covered with protective wire masks as they stand off warily, foils circling before they thrust at their opponent.
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.
In a blunt assessment of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan, the Pentagon has told the United States Congress that the country is using militant groups as proxies to counter the superior Indian military.
The key Biden administration included the CIA's deputy director David Cohen and the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan, Tom West.
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