Tag: South Asia

Instead of Blaming Neighbors, Afghans should Fix the Problems at Home

[Manish Rai] The ethnic and sectarian imbalance within the Afghan national military creates misunderstanding and mistrust among different ethnic and sectarian groups towards the army, making it look like a foreign force.

Whither Regional Cooperation in South Asia?

[Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra] Putting sensitive bilateral issues out of the SAARC mandate has not yielded any positive results. Instead, the forum has been held hostage to bilateral disputes [largely between India and Pakistan]. The requirement of consensus has prevented SAARC from making any headway on desirable proposals on regional integration.

Indo-US Strategic Relations: Strengths and Limits

[Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra] Strategic relations between the US and India evolved steadily and were steered by multiple factors like size and population of India, impact of Indian soft power on US's leaders and people, relative stability of Indian political and economic system necessary for bilateral trade-and-investment and the alignment of interests of these two countries in containing a militarily assertive and muscular China. However, the Indo-US strategic relations may not be as promising as some leaders and scholars from both sides epitomize such as natural allies or defining partners, but the history suggests that the relations will not decline rather will witness a steady rise.

Maiden UN Report on Human Rights Status in Kashmir Attracts Criticism from New Delhi

[Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra] Despite India’s long-standing concerns over the Kashmir issue, human rights are no more considered domestic concerns with the growing institutionalization of international human rights laws and norms and, therefore, the UN report falls squarely with the Pakistani attempt at internationalizing the issue. However, even after several Pakistani attempts in seeking international support on the Kashmir issue, the major powers of international politics have preferred to stay off the course.