Sri Lanka’s hedging has resulted in a delicate balancing act between India and China. India’s engagement with it in the near future is bound to bring new changes to this equation and to the larger picture of Sino-Indian competition in South Asia.
Attempts at resuscitation of SAARC is taking place and when the common enemy of COVID-19 enabled unprecedented virtual unions of all member states in the recent past, that the crisis in Afghanistan comes up as a test for the meaningful revival of the lagging regional forum.
The deficit of the Human Security Paradigm in the Afghan state-building endeavour, paved the way to a detached institution- one with which the local Afghan population could just not resonate. This tendency facilitated the resurgence of the Taliban, and it is solely this tendency that spurred crisis after crisis in the country that the whole world had once ambitiously embraced.
The sustenance of Taliban against US forces lies in its organizational structure and working style providing the answers to its rise and offense.
The Indo-Pacific may be a new strategic lexicon in the present context, but the region resonated in Netaji’s sustained perseverance for attaining Swaraj. He creatively intertwined India’s yearning for freedom with the prevailing dynamics of world history, and geopolitics during the Second World War.
Afghanistan truly stands at a crossroads today. Inaction on the part of the United States and the larger international community would mean the reversal of gains made since 2001. The United Nations, the United States, and other stakeholders would do well to take immediate, proactive and concrete steps to secure Afghanistan from slipping into yet another vicious cycle of violence and bloodshed.
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban, and the complete chaos that ensued in the Kabul airport, turned many against President Biden’s foreign policy choice. Like many predecessors, President Biden and his foreign policy choices stand on the quintessential precipice of U.S. power to restore the fate of its own people while shaping the future of others beyond its homeland.
The U.S. views India as a credible player in the Indo-Pacific region and it reflects a new momentum in the bilateral relationship. The fact that India and the United States are the world’s most important democracies cannot be overlooked and it has even contributed to the vitality of what is now being regarded as one of the world’s most consequential bilateral relations in the 21st Century.
The US, the decision to execute the process of withdrawal has proved consequential for the regional security environment of South and Central Asia. However, the announcement of a possibility of a quadrilateral diplomatic platform raised certain questions regarding how the US would engage with Afghanistan post-withdrawal of troops.
The Maldivian government has been active in its people about the significance of India’s support and about the fact that their sovereignty will not be compromised. India too must be looking towards not letting its bilateral relations with the Maldives waver from their base of mutual trust and respect.