United States and other NATO countries must send more troops to Afghanistan so that Islamic State is not able to shift headquarters to the country, writes Jai Kumar Verma for South Asia Monitor

Since India’s independence, there have been three distinct waves of migration. During the 1960s, the best students, particularly from STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and medicine, went for higher studies and a professional career to the US and the UK, writes Amit Dasgupta for South Asia Monitor

One measure of its status now is the refusal of UN officials to get involved in India-Pakistan affairs, despite Islamabad's pleadings, or for the organisation to internationalise the Kashmir issue, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor

If at all Saeed or his protégé manages to capture the high chair in Islamabad, any chances of improving relations with Pakistan would have to be dumped. Implosion of Pakistan will be a foregone conclusion since Saeed believes in Punjabi supremacy and the Pakhtuns and Baloch will never accept it, Brig Anil Gupta (retd) for South Asia Monitor.

Ansari  warned against promoting  "intolerance and arrogant patriotism" and said, that left unchecked, these twin malignancies would have an adverse impact on pluralism and secularism, the precious core values so deeply embedded in the Constitution, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor

Sharif’s policy of reaching out to India was thwarted at every stage by the army, by three successive Punjabi army chiefs (Kayani, Raheel Sharif and Qamar Bajwa), writes Tridivesh Singh Maini for South Asia Monitor

It is hard to make concession in the name of Trump's characteristic penchant for hyperbole and bluster because he is dealing with a leader who has lived outside international norms in the tradition of his father Kim Jong-Il and grandfather Kim Il-sung, writes Mayank Chhaya for South Asia Monitor

The India-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership will acquire more teeth when India ships the lethal BrahMos and 25- mile range Akash missiles to Vietnam.  The Vietnam navy has four offshore patrol vessels supplied by India, writes Amitava Mukherjee for South Asia Monitor

Street harassment is one of the numerous forms of violence which women suffer in Afghanistan. It is the most neglected form of violence against women, writes Zarifa Sabet for South Asia Monitor

To achieve his strategic vision, Modi opted for his own distinctive approach: first, he chose to place greater emphasis on personal equations and second, he opted to be disruptive and unpredictable and, if required, unhesitatingly forceful. Both depart dramatically from the approach adopted by his predecessors, writes Amb Amit Dasgupta (retd.) for South Asia Monitor