Sreeram Chaulia

The men in black turbans and white sneakers are back in Kabul. Their stunning military offensive swept the country in two weeks overthrowing a state structure it took 20 years to build. Now the world asks: ‘how will they rule?’

Ebrahim Raisi’s election in Tehran risks escalating strife with Iran’s global and regional adversaries. But there is also the chance that, under his leadership, he will have the scope to smooth the friction with foreign foes.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is an age-old struggle over land and religion. But political atrophy in Israel and the Palestinian territories is giving extremists excessive power to fill the vacuum through gratuitous violence.

Upon his return from India this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he feels no wavering on New Delhi’s end of its defense cooperation with Moscow, despite American pressure on anyone doing business with Russia.

While accusing Russia, without proof, of paying the Taliban to kill American soldiers, US politicians are conveniently ignoring facts about who really armed and financed terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

Asian democracies like South Korea, Japan and India are doing a better job than Europe and the US in combating the coronavirus pandemic. Deep social divisions and poor leadership in the West are just two of the reasons.

India is a key target of the Western liberal media, whose prejudice and ignorance have generated a torrent of negative news coverage aimed at undermining the image of the world’s largest democracy

Asia’s No.1 and No.2 powers have longstanding conflicts of interest, but are seeking common ground through “strategic communication” between their leaders. The goal – stability – is pursued with a heavy dose of personal diplomacy.

The India-Russia special partnership is strategic. It is growing in new directions, with implications for both China and the United States.

The decades-old disputed region has entered an intriguing new phase where India is pushing the envelope, Pakistan is staring at a dead end, and the US is flirting with intervention.