Afghanistan

Although General David Petraeus emphatically stated that the United States of America is not in Afghanistan to lose the war, the fact remains that the decade-long war on terror against the Taliban and shadow boxing the al Qaida has lost its aim and purpose, reaching levels of absurdity at a cost of over a trillion dollars and yet the US will not win the war! Every effort of General Petraeus to win will only escalate the conflict and that is not in the best interests of Afghanistan and the US.

• B. R. Muthu Kumar
• January 2011
• Strategic Analysis

As the United States seeks to draw down its security forces in Afghanistan, India faces a serious policy conundrum. It has made, as Vishal Chandra argues, significant developmental and infrastructural investments in the country. If the US military withdrawal is significant, even if not precipitate, it may leave the field open to a reconstitution of the Taliban within the country. Such an outcome will dramatically enhance Pakistani influence in the country and thereby place India's very substantial commitments to date at risk.

• Prof. Sumit Ganguly
• January 2011
• Strategic Analysis

India and Russia should look at a hi-tech partnership for the 21st century in new areas of the civilian economy.

• Smita Purushottam
• December 20, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The US needs to take direct charge of the peace talks prong of strategy to meet the mid-2011 deadline of beginning its troops withdrawal as well as to enable NATO departure by 2014.

• Ali Ahmed
• November 23, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The current terrorist threat has reemphasised the importance of Europe, considered to be increasingly irrelevant in global security and strategic calculus.

• Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay
• October 21, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Given the fragility of ISAF’s southern lines of communication passing through Pakistan, India could consider offering a passage through its territory as a meaningful alternative.

• Harinder Singh
• October 21, 2010
• IDSA Comments

India must stay engaged, keep a low profile, earn the goodwill of the Afghan people through its multifaceted assistance programme, and stay away from any costly misadventure in the security sector.

• Arvind Gupta
• October 18, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The present paper discusses about the new great instability in Afghanistan which had emerged after 2001. It builds four scenarios by looking into the impending American withdrawal from Afghanistan and states that for President Obama, a stable and democratic government is most desirable but it would prefer to leave it after building a coalition government with local actors as the US is more worried about a stable government in Afghanistan, not necessarily a democratic one.

• D. Suba Chandran
• October 2010
• Journal of Defence Studies

Bangladesh is making an important effort domestically to weaken the affiliates of al-Qaeda and Taliban ideology, which is no less important than making contributions to ISAF.

• Anand Kumar
• October 12, 2010
• IDSA Comments

India has been fairly successful in firewalling the radical blowback emanating from Pakistan in the past and need not be overly worried about the impending US withdrawal.

• Harinder Singh , Sushant Sareen
• October 07, 2010
• Issue Brief