… for the United States, pushing the Taliban to join peace talks with Kabul is paramount to ending its 17-year long involvement in the war. But perhaps Washington's biggest problem will be figuring out how to balance the Taliban's demand for a complete withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces … whatever happens there will be huge geopolitical implications …
Introduction Seventeen years have passed since the American forces entered Afghanistan in October 2001 and ousted the Taliban. The massive crackdown forced the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban leaders to melt into Pakistan, where they replenished their depleted forces to restart the war on the western forces and the nascent Afghan government.
Security situation in Afghanistan faces greater challenges. Besides the Taliban, the rise of ISIS opens up another front for the embattled Afghan state. At a time when the Afghan national election draws closer, security challenges necessitate greater assistance and coordination of efforts from Washington, whose South Asia strategy was unveiled last year with the aim of forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.
… Indian assistance in Afghanistan is focused on, ‘Afghan led, Afghan owned and controlled,’ projects … India’s Small Development Projects are spread all over the country … economic development is the basic foundation for peace in Afghanistan … it has to be owned, led and controlled by them - a point emphasised by Indian policy makers … external actors particularly China and Pakistan have a limited role in that …
... insurgency in Afghanistan is a political problem; the military can create the right conditions for diplomatic talks to begin ... currently, Taliban is in no mood to negotiate ... Taliban who are ready to come around must be granted favourable options ... All this will take time and a lot of patience ... Finally, a favourable situation would emerge only if the US and NATO continue to stay and guide the ANSF ...
A Round Table Discussion (RTD) on Afghanistan’s current situation and the way forward was held at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 15 Nov 2017. The panel of discussants included a broad array of security and foreign policy experts, including Dr Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF, Amb Amar Sinha, India’s former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Lt Gen Ravi Sawhney, Amb Prabhat Shukla, among other experts.
Abstract The transit trade problems of Afghanistan are typical to any other landlocked country. As a landlocked country, Afghanistan has relied on Pakistan for its international trade. However, the transit trade of Afghanistan has remained unstable akin to escalated political relations between the two countries. Given economic importance of access to sea, the landlocked countries continued to raise their voice at the United Nations.
Highlights President Ghani dwelled on the causes of global uncertainty, the regional security context and the New US Strategy in South Asia. Drivers of Global Uncertainty
H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, concluded his three-day visit to India with a talk on ‘India-Afghanistan Relations: Recent Developments and Implications’, delivered at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 12 Sep 2017. H.E. Rabbani, who visited India for the 2nd meeting of the India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Council, described his interactions with his Indian counterpart Mrs. Sushma Swaraj and other key government officials as highly successful and productive. As part of his talk, H.E.
The VIF hosted an internal discussion on ‘Afghanistan: Emerging Realignment’ on 04 May 2017. The purpose was to consider Afghanistan’s dwindling security environment and imperatives for India to hedge its bets against a resurgent Taliban waiting to take over the reins of power in Kabul while the new US administration is yet to firm up its future Afghanistan strategy.