'The credit (for the nuclear bomb) goes to me and my team because it was a very difficult task, which was next to impossible. But given the US and European pressure on our programme, it is true that had the Afghan war not taken place at that time, we would not have been able to make the bomb as early as we did,' Khan told the Aaj News Television.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
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.
"You can never win the war in Afghanistan," said 'Colonel Imam', who ran a training programme for the Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union's occupation from 1979 to 1989, and then helped to form the Taliban. "I have worked with these people since the 1970s and I tell you they will never be defeated. Anyone who has come here has got stuck. The more you kill, the more they will expand," Imam told The Sunday Times.
'It is not a matter of fixing the military problem up there in the Himalayas and the retreat of the two militaries.' 'India has to find a way to correct the racist and very patronising views of India in the Chinese mind.'
'What needs to be watched is that the border incidents at Dokalam in 2017 and Galwan in 2020 are triggering nascent Chinese nationalism against India,' asserts Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
Brazilian Jadson struck an extra-time winner to secure Shakhtar Donetsk a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen in the last UEFA Cup final Wednesday.
India's most powerful prime minister in five decades gets publicly admonished -- if gently -- by the US vice-president. The question is, would this make him reflect on how and why, or which ones of his government and party's missteps exposed his flank like this? asks Shekhar Gupta.
The hit to economic activity will be mostly confined to the first quarter. And a third wave, if it materialises, is unlikely to be hugely disruptive for the economy, predicts T T Ram Mohan.
Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said on Sunday.
India must develop structured multilateralism to its defence buys
Why do Innovation Revolutions happen outside India, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
The president also said one of his daughters has been given a shot of the COVID-19 vaccination. "One of my daughters got vaccinated. In fact, she took part in an experiment. After the first vaccination, she had a [body] temperature of 38 degrees [Celcius, 100 degrees Fahrenheit], the next day slightly higher than 37 [degrees], that's all," he said.
'What was the need for the investigating officers to tell the journalists about the place where the surviving Lashkar terrorist was being detained and where he is going to be transferred next? Don't they realise that such information would be useful to the Lashkar and the ISI if they want to mount an operation to rescue or eliminate him? What was the need for the journalists to find out such sensitive details and disseminate them in the media?'
'The regime -- and particularly the home ministry under Amit Shah -- have sought to suppress and destroy these struggles through intimidation, bullying, threats, through false cases, arrests, custodial torture, the use of draconian laws like the UAPA.'
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).
Admitting that Russia's relations with India have not "developed properly" after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a Russian indologist has called for a proactive approach with focus on cooperation in the energy sector, including nuclear. "Celebrating 2008 as the Year of Russia and 2009 as the Year of India is not enough. These are mere symbolisms. We have to be active, otherwise we will lose," says indologist Felix Yurlov.
The greatest challenge before India is how to strike a fine balance of its relationship between its neighbour and strategic rival China, and the US.
In this era of numerous invisible fences, globalism is the new villain and patriotism the new virtue.
The heart of the matter is that the Indo-US nuclear deal, unless it is closed now right now and on American terms, will soon need to be harmonised with the new Russian-American format and the international regime emanating out of it
Reliance Industries, India's most valued company, and state-run gas firm GAIL India have identified 10 countries including Qatar, Australia and Russia for setting up a multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant.
In its upcoming issue, Newsweek magazine has described the movement as President Vladimir Putin's shock forces and contends that the movement is newest weapon in the drive to reclaim Russia's bygone regional dominance.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the upcoming moratorium does not stipulate permanent withdrawal from the CFE Treaty, adding that Russia will resume its obligations as soon as NATO countries ratify the adapted version.
Dmitry Medvedev, the chosen successor of outgoing President Vladimir Putin was on Wednesday officially sworn in as Russia's third President since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Medvedev took the oath of office in an elaborate and lavish ceremony, in the Kremlin's golden-hued St Andrew's Hall, bringing Putin's eight years as President to an end. Medvedev in his speech said he attached special importance to "the fundamental role of law".
Russia on Thursday marked the golden jubilee of the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik, which sparked off a space race between the then Communist state and the US 50 years ago.
Pranab lost his cool with a scribe.
'The prime minister and his colleagues thought the Bush administration's promises were as good as gold. But, as the Americans would now have you believe, gold is no better than bronze.'
;The world paid a heavy price for the megalomania of the Third Reich's fuehrer.' 'Will it pay a similar price for the ambitions of China's leader-for-life?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
The American-born chess ace, who settled in Iceland in 2005 and was later granted Icelandic citizenship, died of an unspecified illness at the age of 64.
Putin is pouring billions into boosting the tech sector. The country has a skilled workforcebut cronyism and copyright issues pose problems
Colombo seems to be veering to the middle path between China and the US on global matters, but in regional matters of strategic security, it is increasingly identifying with India, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'There is a compulsion to look hard, decisive, and risk-taking; start something; and then conclude it in a way you can claim victory.' 'That is not such an easy option against China,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Google urged the US government on Thursday to raise the number of H-1B visas by highlighting the contributions of its co-founder Sergey Brin and the company's principal scientist Krishna Bharat, both foreign-origin workers.
Yeltsin was widely hailed as an effective reformer but his era was a traumatic period in Russian history.
Beresheet was developed by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries. If the mission had been completed successfully, Israel would have been the fourth country, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China, to land a spacecraft on the moon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed off his stick skills with a goal and two assists in an amateur ice hockey game at a 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics venue on Tuesday.
The new warhead, due to be operational in five years' time, will be used to replace Trident missiles on submarines.
How a free Web could harm you, now and in the long run.
The successful test -- a first -- has alarmed America.
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