Courtesy: U.S. Navy
U.S. President Barack Obama will certainly have the benefit of continuity in his second term, but he has a range of impending crises to address immediately - be it to avert the so-called fiscal cliff before the end of the year when automatic cuts kick in or plan for the military drawdown from Afghanistan.
Courtesy: Isafmedia/Flickr
As the NATO troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan in 2014, India is already positioned to take on a larger, pro-active role, which can radically alter the balance of power in South Asia. However, what will determine the future of security in the region, is how India and Afghanistan deal with Pakistan.
Courtesy: gr33ndata/Flickr
The involvement of Islamists in democratic movements is usually dismissed as a mere ruse to attain political power. However, evidence suggests that people in Muslim-majority democracies support Islamist groups which challenge a dishonest government, rather than those who seek to establish Islamic autocracy.
Though some countries like Russia gained a strong foothold in Central Asia and the Caucasus post-1991, India has been a late-comer. Gateway House interviews former Ambassador to Azerbaijan Debnath Shaw to discuss India’s energy interests in the region, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the TAPI pipeline.
Courtesy: Embassy of India, Washinton D.C.
The third India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue saw more talk of ‘mutual capabilities’ than of a mere alliance. The larger endeavour in the bilateral is to find the right fit as partners, where both countries can preserve their strategic autonomy and benefit from their unique positions in the international community.
Courtesy: Open Democracy
The NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 should be done tactically so that it doesn't destabilize Pakistan. Despite having accepted Pakistani help in the past, the Taliban might empathize with Pakistani Pashtuns and spread the very secessionist tendencies which Pakistan’s Afghan policy was designed to prevent.
Courtesy: Secretary of Defense/Flickr
Pakistan’s refusal to re-open NATO supply routes into Afghanistan has made the country an instant pariah in the U.S. at the NATO Summit. The communiqué released confirms a withdrawal of 130,000 troops by as early as mid-2013. Can the remaining soldiers help maintain peace when a force much larger could not?
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Defense
An important take-away from the preliminary pact reached by Kabul and Washington is that unlike the 1990s, the Americans are not just packing their bags and leaving. This is good news in terms of regional stability, and the upcoming NATO summit may answer some questions this draft agreement raises.
Courtesy: LGEPR
With turmoil in the Middle East, a drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iran-Israel-U.S. conflict, the international community has paid little attention to the democracy of a small group of people - the Bahrainis. More worrisome, however, is that politics now responds to the elite.
Courtesy: Afghanistan Goverment/WikimediaCommons
Afghanistan has become the first significant theatre of effective confrontation between the West and China. But with its deep-rooted economic ties, could the U.S. and NATO actually confront China?
