External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
'Afghanistan is a beautiful country but has no luck as far as lasting peace is concerned'
The Western powers appear to regard Delhi as the most logical destination in the region in these extraordinary times -- as a counterpoint to the ascendance of political Islam and a rising red star over Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Trump's new discovery is that Pakistan and its army are virtually god's gift to mankind.' 'They are required to facilitate a relatively orderly American exit from Afghanistan,' points out Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan.
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Pakistan has too much at stake to allow even an iota of rapprochement between India and the Taliban, says Vivek Gumaste.
The Afghan tradition of gaining control of areas does not necessarily involve combat. Most engagements are settled through negotiations and pay-offs before battle is joined. This style of fighting is peculiar to Afghanistan, explains Ajai Shukla, who witnessed such a transaction between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in November 2001.
Friday's incident at Herat has dampened somewhat the spirit behind the invitation. It reminds Modi much before he officially becomes prime minister, of the challenge that awaits his government, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Remember the US withdrawal agreement was signed in February 2020. In the intervening period, a proper evacuation plan ought to have been in place. It was not. Consequently, tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked as interpreters, drivers, suppliers of goods and services, etc, face brutal retribution from the Taliban, Virendra Kapoor points out.
Once Mazar-i-Sharif falls, some isolate pockets of resistance may remain, which the Taliban would tackle through political work or coercion, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Amid intelligence inputs that its interests in Afghanistan may be targetted by Taliban and other terror groups in the wake of the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, India has tightened security at its missions and other establishments.
India is set to resume its much-acclaimed medical mission work in Afghanistan which was scaled down following the terror attack in Kabul early this year that left nine Indians dead, senior officials said in Kabul on Tuesday.
'The Afghans used to say that if there is any person whose name should be taken after Allah, it is Hindustani.'
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 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.'
He was awarded the Amir Amanullah Khan Award by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after the inauguration of the landmark Afghan-India Friendship Dam.
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 decision is significant as India has decided to reduce the tenure of its diplomats and other staff in Islamabad from three to two years because of security considerations. The government has decided to extend the tenure of diplomats and other staff of these Consulates from 18 months to two years, officials sources said.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Their leaders in the provinces, which have been under the control of Taliban commanders for several months now, speak the language of the bigot. Women are known to have been abducted and enslaved. Several young girls have simply disappeared.
India needs to shed its policy of lethargy and inhibitions to engage the Taliban with an intent to maintain its influence in Afghanistan. This would not just put a spanner in Pakistani designs, but also incentivise the Taliban not to be the puppets of GHQ, Rawalpindi, asserts Colonel Nikhil Apte (retd), who served on the Af-Pak desk at the Military Operations Directorate.
Raising the matter during the Zero Hour, Bharatkumar Raut said the latest abduction of an Indian road construction worker in Herat was shocking as a series of such incidents had been taking place. "It is a matter of shame that we are silent spectators," he said and felt that Indians had become soft targets for the Talibans.
A spokesman for Taliban, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, rang an international news agency to confirm that the Taliban had kidnapped the four men.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Bharat Kumar is the second Indian to be killed in two months by the Taliban.
A Sydney cafe that was the scene of a deadly 16-hour siege reopened on Friday, over three months after two hostages died in the terrorist attack staged by a Iran-born gunman inspired by the Islamic State militant group.
The blast caused smoke to rise above the city and triggered an alarm in the US Embassy.
A Kam Air plane in Afghanistan with 96 passengers onboard has gone missing, agency reports said.
In diplomacy, a prime ministerial visit should be viewed as a rare event, not a routine one, which should be taken recourse to only when other options like ministerial visits are not available. But Modi has a different style of functioning. He wants to do everything himself, says Rajeev Sharma
Abducted Indian aid worker Alexis Prem Kumar in Afghanistan is safe and India is confident of getting him rescued unharmed soon, according to a top Indian diplomat.
In a major crackdown to eliminate the terrorists' sanctuaries, Afghanistan has carried out three air strikes within a week in Kunar province, bordering Pakistan, inflicting heavy casualties on Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group.
In photos: After US visa battle, all-girl Afghanistan team competes in the first international robot Olympics in Washington, DC
A Ganesh Nadar meets the stunned father of Alexis Prem Kumar, the Indian Jesuit priest, who was abducted by armed gunmen in the Herat province of Afghanistan.
Pak military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in which assailants attempted to storm the mission building.
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