However, the visit clarified one important reality: despite periodic friction over trade, tariffs, Russia, immigration, or strategic autonomy, neither India nor the United States presently has the luxury of disengagement. The relationship may no longer carry the earlier romanticism of “natural allies,” but it continues to be driven by geopolitical realities - energy security, China’s rise, maritime stability, technology supply chains, and the changing balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
For many in India and Sri Lanka, however, the memory of the assassination remains raw. Rajiv Gandhi’s killing was not merely the death of a much-loved former prime minister; it marked the violent spillover of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict into India itself.
Non-nuclear weapon states arrived at the conference with legitimate frustration. Nuclear arsenals are being modernized at enormous cost. The New START Treaty expired in February 2026 without a successor framework — the first time since the early 1970s that no binding limits govern the strategic arsenals of the United States and Russia. China is expanding its arsenal faster than any other nuclear power.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front was formed in March 2022 under the leadership of Gen. Yasin Zia, the former Chief of General Staff of the Afghan National Army. The force comprises mainly the former members of the Afghan National Security Forces, trained soldiers and experienced officers, former defenders of Afghanistan against the Taliban under a democratically-elected government who are now stateless, exiles, and warriors once again.
The resumption of this interaction last held in New Delhi in 2014 is an important step forward in recognising the magnitude of the external and internal threat to maritime security and to develop a shared approach to the security of this region, writes Cmde Anil Jai Singh (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The protection for journalists remains the biggest challenge in Afghanistan, and while women journalists make up just 17 percent of the news force, 30 percent of them have reported violence, writes Farida Nekzad for South Asia Monitor
It is the height of hypocrisy if the global community led by the West lets Myanmar off the hook and instead pressurises poor Bangladesh to not only shelter more than a million people in the overcrowded country but even dictate locations for settling them, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor
Experts feel that impunity enjoyed by rapists in the country are not due to the fact that Bangladesh does not have a high punishment for rape - currently the highest punishment afforded is life imprisonment - but that rapists are convicted in only three percent of the cases, writes Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed for South Asia Monitor
The anger of these agitating farmers is yet another manifestation of the narrative of farmer distress that stalks the India growth story, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
With the outgoing President Donald Trump having ordered a nearly full US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost two decades in the war-torn country, in Bolton’s assessment there are clear dangers of a serious instability that could threaten not only the South Asian region but the rest of the world, writes Mayank Chhaya for South Asia Monitor
Yet no nuclear scientist has been targeted in Pakistan, not even Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb who indulged in blatant nuclear proliferation with obvious government support, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Rasool Bux Palijo has earned a place in the pantheon of leaders of South Asia who has earned lasting fame and created an ideological legacy in the struggle against martial law, feudalism, colonialism, and imperialism, writes Muhammad Abbas Khaskheli for South Asia Monitor
India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives agreed to expand the scope of intelligence sharing, including terrorism and cybersecurity, at the meeting to discuss common security threats, writes Sugeeswara Senadhira for South Asia Monitor
Pakistani audiences seem unwilling to discard the supposedly "vulgar" stuff they are addicted to, given the common socio-cultural ethos of the subcontinent, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
The spread of COVID-19 infections in South Asia has not been uniform across countries; while some countries were successful in controlling the pandemic, others were not, writes Partho Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
The BJP governments in these states, in their quest to criminalize interfaith marriages, are going ahead with coming out with this law, despite not even a single case of ‘love jihad’ having been detected by the central investigative teams to date, writes Reeti Prakash for South Asia Monitor
Till the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are confident and sufficiently armed to stabilize the country, it would be prudent for the US to retain troop strength between 5000-8000 in Afghanistan, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Malabar naval exercises could be seen as an obvious manifestation of the desire among members of the Quad to keep trade routes open, military confrontations in check and keep the Indo-Pacific Region open for legitimate rules-based economic activity, writes Raghbendra Jha for South Asia Monitor
COVID-19 has brought into focus supply chain issues and with it a fundamental change in the way food availability and access is viewed, one that goes beyond the conventional focus on weather, area, production, and yield (APY) paradigm of crops, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
