In the light of Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, Ankara has adopted a cautious approach towards the Syrian Kurds and has decided to take Moscow’s concerns into account before making any move in northern Syria.
Adil Rasheed replies: The US and Western countries did not play any overt or covert role in the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
G. Balachandran replies: The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) has an indirect benefit for both the countries in terms of being able to exchange information on a secure basis. Although it is almost an essential requirement for interoperability, one does not envisage India and US being engaged jointly in any military operations against an adversary.
How different will the USAF look after the proposed restructuring with 74 additional squadrons? Will there be a trade-off between quality and quantity?
Ashok Kumar Behuria replies: De-hyphenation is a policy adopted by countries to maximise their strategic returns from their diplomatic engagements/investments with two adversarial states, both of whom are of consequence to them. It insulates them in some way from the inadvertent turbulence that could result out of their possible hostile interaction and, thus, affect their relationship with both.
India must jettison the attempt to maintain a balance between China and the US and instead take advantage of China’s internal and external vulnerabilities to gain an upper hand in the asymmetric power equation that has developed.
While it is necessary to identify and shore up the convergence of interest between India and Iran, it is equally important to recognize differences and pitfalls.
Md. Muddassir Quamar replies: The stated reasons for the 2003 Iraq war were presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and harbouring of terrorists that subsequently proved to be exaggerated and erroneous. The actual reason was lingering problems between the United States (US) and Iraq since early 1990s. Iraq had attacked and annexed Kuwait in August 1990. The US responded by launching Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait, which was achieved in January 1991.
While Iran and its European interlocutors (along with Russia and China) can be expected to mount a tough challenge to continue to make the JCPOA work in the light of Trump’s May 8 decision to ‘withdraw’ from the agreement, it remains to be seen to what extent they can succeed.
Geopolitical competition between the great powers with or without direct conflict will lead to a situation where productive cooperation among them on critical international issues is likely to prove difficult.
Turkey Treads a Fine Line in Syria
In the light of Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, Ankara has adopted a cautious approach towards the Syrian Kurds and has decided to take Moscow’s concerns into account before making any move in northern Syria.