Author: Frédéric Grare, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

In an interview on 3 May 2017, former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai strongly attacked US policy in Afghanistan and, once again, asked India to do more in his country. Read more…

Author: Galen Murton, University of Colorado

April 2017 marked the two-year anniversary of the powerful earthquakes that devastated Nepal and set the stage for China to act as a global humanitarian player. The earthquakes inflicted significant damage in Nepal’s central and northern districts and motivated Beijing to mobilise its largest-ever humanitarian effort on foreign soil. Read more…

Author: Peter Mayer, University of Adelaide

There is no painless way for an incumbent political party to lose an election, especially if it appears that its former supporters have abandoned it. Read more…

Author: Abdul Basit, RSIS

Unites States National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster embarked on his maiden visit to South Asia on 16 April 2017. McMaster’s trip to the region is part of the on-going consultation process ahead of finalising the Trump administration’s South Asia policy. Read more…

Author: Rajiv Kumar, Pahle India

Since the November 2016 announcement that demonetised 86 per cent of India’s currency in circulation, Rs 5,400 crore (US$837 million) of undisclosed income has been detected. Critics will surely latch on to this rather measly figure to declare that demonetisation has palpably failed in expropriating owners of ‘illegal money’. Such criticism would only further display the inherent ideological bias and politically-motivated opposition of these critics. Read more…

Author: K.V. Kesavan, Observer Research Foundation

Despite its enormous potential, the India–Australia partnership had remained low key for a long time. But since 2014 the two countries have instilled a new dynamism in their relations. Read more…

Author: Sumit Kumar, Pondicherry University

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s state visit to India from 7 to 10 April signalled a remarkable movement in the relationship between the two countries. Nearly seven years after Hasina’s last trip to India, the visit was of such importance that protocol was set aside and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received Hasina at Palam airport in New Delhi. Read more…