Obama has skilfully reaped the political benefits of ordering a ‘technical’ withdrawal and ending the US mission in Iraq, whilst not only retaining the substance of the US posture and presence but immeasurably strengthening it.
At a time of such monumental, even existential, challenges, if all that Pakistan can come up with is a vacuous demagogue like Imran Khan, then its future is pretty bleak.
It will not be fair to assess the success or failure of the Conference at this stage. The fact that there was an attempt to forge regional cooperation on Afghanistan was a positive but feeble step.
The visit gave an opportunity to both India and the Maoists to settle some of their misunderstandings. However, it could be a huge risk for India to engage him more at the individual level than at the party level.
Barely a year after suffering two months of road blockade by Naga groups, Manipur is in the throes of a similar crisis again. What Manipur is in desperate need of is a resolution of the crisis."
Bhattarai’s visit was historic not for the bilateral issues that were discussed but because it provided an opportunity for meaningful re-engagement between India and the UCPN(M).
The people-to-people connectivity has the potential to actually transform the relationship between India and Bangladesh and take it to a higher level of cooperation and understanding.
