Comment & Briefs

While Pakistan could still try and develop a taste for grass by rejecting US assistance, there is no way it can economically sustain the fight against the Islamist insurgency without external assistance.

Indian insurgent groups are re-establishing camps in Bhutan and are also forging links with Bhutanese rebel groups.

India should engage space have-nots at a different level, going beyond technological and commercial interests.

Resource-rich Balochistan province has high rates of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and infant and maternal mortality.

Indian insurgent groups are re-establishing camps in Bhutan and are also forging links with Bhutanese rebel groups.

The strategic partnership is moving towards a higher trajectory with growing co-operation in the areas of defence, economy, energy, education, environment, science, technology and innovation.

If Karzai were to become President again in the election seen as marked by fraud, his lack of legitimacy will only feed into the insurgent propaganda.

The aggressive posture that the Chinese have adopted along the otherwise relatively tranquil Line of Actual Control (LOAC) has come under a lot of analytical examination by Indian Sinologists. They have advanced a number of explanations for the Chinese actions, all of which have a ring of truth about them.

Pratibha Patil’s three-day visit to Tajikistan (September 6 to 8, 2009) was the first ever visit by an Indian President to the Central Asian region. She attended the National Day celebrations of Tajikistan as the Guest of Honour. President Patil held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon on a wide range of issues, including efforts to tackle terrorism, bilateral relations, and developments in and around the region aimed at consolidating ties between the two countries in the political, economic and other spheres.

Pakistan’s ability to press home a multidimensional campaign against the radical forces, and contain domestic instability and economic downturn, is suspect.