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The July 7 Attack in Kabul and India’s Search for a Response

The July 7 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul which left 58 people dead including four Indians and more than 140 wounded was a highly provocative act. Those responsible for the attack are well known, and their objectives are also not a matter of speculation. It is understood that the Indian government should be taking far more stringent security measures to minimise the recurrence of such attacks on its embassy, consulates, and reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.

Should India Engage with NATO?

On the face of it, India and NATO are poles apart. NATO is a military alliance. India is a non-aligned country with an independent foreign policy. Any engagement between India and NATO is, therefore, problematic.

The Proliferation Security Initiative: Five years later, losing its sheen?

On May 27, 2008, participants from 91 countries assembled in Washington to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) – a controversial counterproliferation initiative launched by President George W. Bush in Krakow, Poland on May 31, 2003, with a view to improve global coordination to intercept shipments of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and related materials by ‘rogue’ states and terrorist groups.

Need for Holistic Restructuring of the Indian Military

In the over five decades since Independence, vast changes have occurred in the security environment within the country, in the region of immediate concern, and at the global level. The last two decades have been of special importance, on account of the ongoing Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), the end of the Cold War, the global war on terrorism and the globalisation of the economy.

Aircraft Carriers and India’s Naval Doctrine

Epic sea battles between aircraft carriers have not recurred after World War II; in the post-war period, most carriers began to retire without even having participated in a battle. Many countries that possessed carriers or were aspiring to get them thus began to re-assess the military-strategic utility of such platforms in the radically altered global geo-strategic environment.

Chinese Checkers in the Himalayas

In a disturbing sign, the Chinese seem to have brought up Sikkim and not Arunachal Pradesh back to the table during the recent visit of Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to China. The belief was that China had implicitly recognised Indian sovereignty over Sikkim in 2003, and as such there was no dispute on the matter with China. China’s recognition of Sikkim was interpreted as a quid pro quo for India’s recognition of total Chinese sovereignty over Tibet in 2003.

Synergising Indian Navy and the Coast Guard

Armed Forces all over the world are beginning to realise the importance of jointmanship, and accordingly enormous efforts have been made of late to promote jointmanship and bring about integration of the three armed forces in India. However, no attempt has been made to formally integrate the Coast Guard, which has also been termed as an armed force of the union, with the other forces, especially with the Indian Navy (IN).

Will Success in the East Pave the Way for Peace and Stability in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka’s Eastern province is transitioning to a new era. First came Karuna’s exit and subsequent co-operation with the government in Colombo. This was followed by the expulsion of the Tigers soon thereafter. And the latest is the successful completion of Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) elections on May 10, 2008 and the coming into existence of a democratically elected government under Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan after two decades of civil conflict.

Growth and Implications of Private Military Corporations

Security, both as a concept and a policy objective, has been undergoing steady expansion in terms of its scope and focus. The concept, on the one hand, has steadily lost its traditional military-security oriented approach and has been broadened into a more holistic and comprehensive paradigm by linkages with non-traditional security issues. In this connection, the “Security sector reform (SSR) has emerged in recent years as a way of tackling the security and development questions together.

Hu’s Visit to Japan

Sino-Japanese relations were in the doldrums for the past decade because of the repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. One consequence was a complete freeze in mutual visits at the highest political levels between 2001 and 2006. Even exchanges at other levels were affected. The ice was broken in 2006 when Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe visited China, and the ice began to thaw when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Japan in 2007.