The Geopolitical Shift in Afghanistan: Security Implications for India
As the US withdrawal from Afghanistan nears completion, the race for influence is underway. From China to Turkey, each country has specific interests that influence its engagement in Afghanistan’s future, and the relations of regional powers demonstrate the realpolitik at play at a time when the security situation in Afghanistan is fluid and generally deteriorating.
A Bomb Attack on a Bus could Impact Sino-Pakistani Relations
The bomb that took the lives of Chinese personnel working on a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in Pakistan could have a much wider impact.
Nationalism, COVID-19 and the Tokyo Olympic Games
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s decision to persist with running the Olympic Games in 2021 is a political statement underpinned by nationalism.
The Challenges to China’s National Rejuvenation – Part Four: The US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
As the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, China will almost certainly be drawn to it for economic and strategic reasons. Estimated to contain untapped mineral wealth worth around US$1 trillion, Afghanistan could provide alternatives to the Kazakhstan-Russia overland route of the Belt-Road Initiative and to the existing route through Pakistan to the Iranian oil and gas fields. In both cases, China would need to be able to fully secure those new routes at a time when the security situation in Afghanistan is looking increasingly precarious and while also ensuring that any unrest in Afghanistan does not spill over into Xinjiang province.
India’s Decision to Negotiate with the Taliban Could Undermine its Efforts to Establish a Democratic Afghanistan
Although India disapproves of the Taliban in public, it has engaged secretly with its representatives, which will raise the Taliban’s confidence and jeopardise New Delhi’s goal of a democratic government in Afghanistan.
India’s Chinese Take-Away: A Two-Child Policy
The two-child policy announced by the state government of Uttar Pradesh likely has little to do with population control and more with political survival.