The growing role of middle powers adds another layer of complexity. Yet the term itself remains imprecise. Not every country outside the United States and China qualifies as a middle power, and many reject the label altogether. India, for example, increasingly sees itself as a leading power pursuing strategic autonomy rather than as a middle power seeking alignment with one bloc or another.
If India and Japan genuinely envision Northeast India as the gateway connecting South Asia with the Bay of Bengal and the Indo-Pacific, then the next chapter of the partnership cannot remain confined to New Delhi and Tokyo. It must also be written in Guwahati, Shillong, Aizawl, Imphal, Agartala, Kohima, Gangtok and Itanagar
In several neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, China has demonstrated an ability to move from agreements to implementation far more rapidly than many competitors. India, despite enjoying unmatched geographic and cultural advantages, has often struggled with delays
The echoes of 1971 are not proof that Balochistan will become another Bangladesh. They are proof that Pakistan has yet to learn what East Pakistan was trying to tell it in the first place: that a state cannot indefinitely draw wealth from a people it refuses to hear.
The impending resumption of exports thus is good news that will ensure low-cost jabs for the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America and will also be beneficial for the South Asian neighborhood, especially countries like Afghanistan that are facing a humanitarian disaster while coping with the ravages of Covid-19, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
India’s position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC and member of BRICS gives it an edge to emerge as a responsible ally and push for coordinated international response not just for humanitarian assistance but also to set precedence for dealing with the Taliban, writes Nandni Mahajan for South Asian Monitor
The pomp and pageantry that characterized some of Modi's previous visits will be absent this time because of Covid and the more reserved style of the Biden administration, writes Frank F Islam for South Asia Monitor
By the estimates given in the Supreme Court order dated 7 May 2021, almost 90 percent of prisoners released last year had returned to prisons between February and March this year, writes Anju Anna John for South Asia Monitor
Biden has shifted his priorities to the Indo-Pacific where a direct confrontation with China is building up and, in fact, he cited that as a rationale for pulling out of Afghanistan, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
India and Australia have come strategically closer through forums such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), writes Rahul Nath Choudhury for South Asia Monitor
Enhanced bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries, writes MD Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
The country expects the world communities to consider all relevant issues including the socio-economic conditions in Bangladesh before making any recommendations to resolve the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis, writes Kazi Mohammad Jamshed for South Asia Monitor
The ISI’s guardianship of terror groups led to the inevitable Talibanisation of Pakistan at the cost of the secular space in politics, writes M R Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor
Notwithstanding India not joining the RCEP, it is likely to become the potential gateway for accelerating China’s backdoor entry into India, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor
But getting global recognition could be far from easy for the Taliban because the Western countries have a negative perception about them, with many people in these nations still considering them terrorists, writes MD Ishtiak Hossain for South Asia Monitor
A key facet of the water-energy-food nexus in Pakistan is the heavy dependence of agriculture on groundwater irrigation, write Haris Mushtaq and Taimoor Akhtar for South Asia Monitor
America’s expectations that Afghanistan would not become a haven for terrorists (which it already was) and that the US will remain sheltered from terrorism emanating from that soil, are both misplaced, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Once the PTA comes into force, more people in Bangladesh will get access to good apples and oranges from Bhutan, while the fashion-conscious Bhutanese can choose from more varieties of quality apparel from Bangladesh, writes Md Pathik Hasan for South Asia Monitor
The sense of losing everything - after a quarter-century of modernization and social progress - seems to have broken the Afghan women's fear of confronting the Taliban, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
