South Asia

Said Sabir Ibrahimi, Research Associate, appeared on Voice of America Dari to discuss the US elections and its implications on Afghanistan.

Q: Do you think it is concerning that the US presidential candidates have not mentioned Afghanistan in their speeches?

A: Donald Trump has been vague about his programs, and both him and Hillary Clinton have not mentioned Afghanistan in their big foreign policy speeches, but in their interviews with American media, they both have mentioned Afghanistan.

The numbers and skill sets of India’s foreign service are woefully out of sync with the global role that the political leadership envisages for the country

It has become a cliché that every US presidential election is more significant than the previous one, not only for the future of the US but for the rest of the world, including India. Yet, like most clichés, there is more than an element of truth and ample proof that the 2016 election will be unlike any other that the US has seen since at least 1940.

The ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague against China’s claim on the South China Sea in a case brought before the court by the Philippines should prima facie have remained a bilateral matter between the litigants. In reality, however, it has become an exemplar of China’s role in the ongoing contest to determine the world order. China’s shrill and bellicose response during and after the ruling has only served to heighten alarm over Beijing’s intentions and behaviour among all the major powers, including India.

During German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent visit to China, the two countries agreed to jointly fund a disaster response centre in Afghanistan. It was just the latest sign of China’s increasingly prominent role in that country, which also includes trying to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban.

Ghani is Afghanistan’s Jimmy Carter—a visionary technocrat who has alienated potential allies and has no feel for politics.

A diminished England, sans nuclear weapons, coupled with a fragmenting Europe, is unlikely to play its traditional role of shaping norms

India has no choice but to influence the evolving multilateral order to sustain its own interests.

Blocking India’s entry into the NSG by endorsing Beijing’s specious criteria will mark a victory for China and a defeat for the cause of non-proliferation