As preparations for the American draw down from Afghanistan get underway, there appears to be another game in town: played by Pakistan's leaders, strategists and for lack of a better word, sympathizers. The argument put forth is this: all problems would be solved if only India would stop playing a...

When Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, stated that the cooperation of both India and Pakistan was required for a stable Afghanistan he was recognizing that India has always been the unacknowledged elephant in the room during talks between Pakistan and the U.S.

Pakistan's fears about India-Afghan ties are both ideological...

By Alex Vatanka and Aparna Pande

The Iran factor could have been a spoiler as the third India-US strategic dialogue was held this week held in Washington D.C. The US granted India a last-minute waiver, exempting it from possible sanctions for its continued trade with Tehran. Still, while...

India's relations with its northern neighbor, Nepal, are tense once again with reported allegations that an Indian diplomat played a role in recent protests by Madhesis, Nepalese of ethnic Indian origin. Over the decades, sins of both omission and commission have plagued India's ties with its northern neighbor.

India-Pakistan bonhomie certainly appears to be the flavor of the season. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari's recent luncheon meeting with Indian Premier Manmohan Singh, easing of regulations to allow closer economic ties and the recent statement of Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai that India was

Earlier this week the U.S. Republican party held key primary elections while India had elections in five states. In both countries the result of elections will influence the course of politics and determine foreign policy.



In the case of the U.S. the elections were aimed at determining the leading Republican...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent trip to India portends a new development. During the visit, the two countries signed a 'strategic partnership' pact which entailed agreements on counter-terrorism cooperation, training of Afghan security forces and increased trade.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement portrayed India's vision...

Carey Schofield's book, Inside the Pakistan Army: A Woman's Experience on the Frontline of the War on Terror, claims to be a book on the Pakistan army but a more apt description of its subject would be "the world according to Pakistan's military officers." Instead of organizing the book into...

Two days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked India to play a greater role and stated that America viewed Indian leadership in South and Central Asia as being "critically important," Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani responded by asserting that there was no need...

On June 29, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an off-the-record meeting with various editors stated that "at least a quarter" of Bangladesh's population "swear by the Jamiat-e-Islami" and "are very anti-Indian" and "are in the clutches, many times, of the ISI." In a faux pas, these remarks were...

Pakistan's relations with the U.S. have never been as strained as in the last few months. And the relations between the two intelligence agencies, CIA and ISI, have never been as full of mistrust as they are today. In the context of the recent visit by Pakistan's top spy to...

While discussing the current Middle East situation in a recent interview, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf asserted that "good dictatorship is better than bad democracy." Mr Musharraf's quote is reminiscent of the traditional Asharite/Al Ghazzali view that "a bad ruler is preferable to anarchy."

During the early centuries...

This is not the first time an Indian Prime Minister has extended a "hand of friendship" towards Pakistan, nor is it the first time Dr. Manmohan Singh has done so. Prime Minister Nehru repeatedly offered his hand of friendship and so did his successors Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. IK Gujral...

Most analysts agree that there is an India-China-US triangular relationship. President Hu Jintao's state visit to the United States concluded in early January, yet policy wonks are still debating over how to interpret the trip. From India's vantage point, this visit was critical in light of closer India-US ties.

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir recently remarked that "Pakistan, India and other countries in South Asia and the region's population of over one billion people cannot be geographically separated." The remark represents a departure from years of attempts by Pakistan to deny its South Asian identity and link up instead...

WikiLeaks cables have stirred a tempest in Pakistan. A number of Pakistani political and military leaders have been exposed for conceding in private what they are reluctant to do in public. But the real question these leaked cables point to is why do Pakistani leaders need to be so obsequious...

Within forty-eight hours of President Obama's announcement of American support for India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the Pakistani federal cabinet passed a resolution terming this action as "incomprehensible." According to the resolution, this American action would have "implications for peace and security and stability...

Visits by U.S. Presidents to friendly countries are more symbolic than substantive. They are meant to reaffirm policies already in place. President Eisenhower's South Asian visit in 1959, the first visit by any American President to the region, demonstrated Eisenhower's policy of trying to balance relations with non-aligned India and...

The third round of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue is being held this week in Washington, D.C., in the backdrop of domestic political crises, economic woes, terrorist attacks and rumors about an ever-impending coup in Pakistan. In this context President Obama's unannounced meeting with the Pakistani delegation emphasizing American support for...