If materialized, the creation of large-scale militias could plunge the country back into civil war, undo achievements in establishing conventional national forces, and divide the country into several fiefdoms controlled by militia commanders. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the current first vice president; Mohammad Mohaqiq, the deputy chief executive; and Atta Mohammad Noor, the governor of Balk province are some of the major politicians who have been publicly vouching for the rearmament of their loyalists. Reports from… Read More »Afghanistan needs military leadership

The International maritime fleet review, held on the vast expanse of the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in February, showcased India’s naval might, represented by aircraft carriers and frontline warships, not only to all those who participated in the review, but to those also who were observing the review from open sources. The maritime review included naval representatives and ships from over 50 nations, who had good opportunity to interact with each… Read More »Maritime diplomacy

Recognizing the gravity of the deepening crisis in the South China Sea, the world’s leading western powers have recently begun to speak out. During their latest summit in Germany, the Group of Seven (G7) leaders underlined the “importance of peaceful dispute settlement as well as free and unimpeded lawful use of the world’s oceans, and expressed how they strongly oppose the use of intimidation, coercion or force, as well as any unilateral actions that seek… Read More »Threat to stability in Asia

The 16th India-Russia summit in Moscow cleared the path for a few more joint projects in defence sector. This helped Russia make an emphatic comeback as India’s trusted and strategic partner. The summit helped propel Russia in the top slot of India’s main defence partner. This was spearheaded by a Prime Minister who has in recent months shown much more proximity to the US and Western leaders. During the visit, the two leaders, Modi and… Read More »India-Russia military cooperation

As widely speculated the Narendra Modi visit to United Kingdom did not result in new contracts for Hawk trainers but the two sides signed a comprehensive defence and international security partnership which will tie the two nations in close security framework. For example the resolve by both countries to work together to promote a secure international maritime domain. Without referring to China this extremely significant paragraph applies to South China Sea, as both countries have… Read More »India-UK defense

India-Russia defence relations are set to receive a boost during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow in the third week of December. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has done the ground work during his early November visit to Moscow during which he discussed issues ranging from the lease of second nuclear submarine to Fifth Generation Fighter aircraft and manufacture of weapon systems and platforms in India. Lot of contentious issues, like the maintenance… Read More »Defence cooperation with Russia

Two nuclear neighbors in South Asia continue to draw world’s attention for their constant badmouthing towards each other. After the famous Ufa agreement in Russia on 10th July this year the Pakistani side backtracked on their promises to initiate talks on agreed parameters. India claimed victory on Ufa statement and Pakistan retaliated by upping the ante on the K word and India insisted, the National Security Advisor level talks must be held on the issue… Read More »India-Pakistan relation

The Malabar-2015 has created fresh ripples in the already rough sea of the Indian Ocean. After a gap of eight years, India will be hosting another multilateral naval exercise of three nations with USA and Japan. All the members of the original five nation multilateral naval engagement held in the Bay of Bengal in September 2007, developed cold feet after China issued diplomatic demarche to all the five nations asking them if they are ganging… Read More »Malabar naval exercise

After nearly a decade of political struggle, the land-locked South Asian nation of Nepal recently passed a constitution. Nepal has adopted a new constitution aimed at bolstering its transformation to a peaceful democracy after decades of political instability and a long civil war. Nepal’s monarchy, which ruled the country for more than 2 centuries, came to a formal end in 2008, and birthed the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The new constitution is the final… Read More »Nepal’s new constitution

Yet another trilateral grouping has emerged along with India, US, Japan and US, Japan and Australia. The latest and third trilateral comprising India, Japan and Australia are part of the same quadrilateral India, US, Japan and Australia, which prematurely died in the womb in 2007. The four countries had earlier conducted a joint maritime exercise in the Bay of Bengal called the Malabar in September 2007 in which Singapore was the fifth partner. Now this… Read More »Global power axis