India can offer to lend a helping hand in a new shared spirit of sporting togetherness that can bind South Asia, writes Sirshendu Panth for South Asia Monitor
In earlier conflicts, victory was often measured by territory captured, armies defeated, or governments forced to surrender. In modern warfare, however, the outcome is far more complex. A nation may achieve battlefield success yet suffer demographic, economic, and infrastructural losses that take decades to recover from.
Mongla matters because it represents more than a port. It reflects the erosion of inherited strategic privilege in South Asia. India can no longer assume automatic influence in Bangladesh, while Bangladesh cannot expect infrastructure agreements with China to be interpreted as purely economic.
The Xiang Yang Hong 33 incident exemplifies a broader challenge in the South China Sea. For China, the mission is characterized as routine environmental research conducted in the waters. The Philippines does not view Chinese marine scientific surveys as isolated environmental initiatives
The Pannun case in the US, the preceding Nijjar row in Canada, the unyielding diplomatic stances of their respective governments, and the coordinated, adversarial statements issued by the Five Eyes alliance, collectively triggered a quiet but intense counter-intelligence pivot by New Delhi.
India can offer to lend a helping hand in a new shared spirit of sporting togetherness that can bind South Asia, writes Sirshendu Panth for South Asia Monitor
The forty years of protracted war has impacted Afghan society, especially women, in a way that has few parallels in human history, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
Although the Indian government believes that FDI is coming into the country in record amounts, most of it is through mergers and acquisitions and not greenfield investments which entail building factories, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The US may continue to bomb the Taliban and keep asking them to reconcile but such a scenario is not going to unfold, especially when nothing has been done in 20 years to block the financial support and arms supplies to the Taliban, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
If sportswomen are treated equally and provided with equitable opportunities, women athletes from South Asia are bound to participate in greater numbers in top international events like the Olympics, writes Sarita Bartaula for South Asia Monitor
India ought to tread cautiously in aligning with the US as a counterweight to China, writes Mayank Mishra for South Asia Monitor
Warship building and design is an arduous undertaking and India now joins a select group of nations that have demonstrated proven capability to conceive, design, and build an aircraft carrier, writes C Uday Bhaskar for South Asia Monitor
One can be optimistic that Biden’s selection will lead to a debate on freedom of religion and more interfaith dialogues in South Asia and other parts of the world, writes Frank F. Islam for South Asia Monitor
Instability in Afghanistan along with the discord with Pakistan does not augur well for South and Central Asian connectivity, writes Niranjan Marjani for South Asia Monitor
With the historic revocation, the Indian government has finally applied salve on the festering anger in Kashmir: anger born out of chronic underdevelopment and misgovernance, writes Suchismita Panda for South Asia Monitor
Cooperation among BCIM members is essential for the sustainable development of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, writes Dipankar Dey for South Asia Monitor
US Secretary of Defense General Lloyd James Austin has said that the Afghan forces must slow the Taliban’s momentum. The question is how, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
With the ever-growing presence of China in Southeast Asia, it would be injudicious to keep the economic and strategic prospects that West Bengal has to offer underutilized, and hostage to petty internal politics, writes Anondeeta Chakraborty for South Asia Monitor
Not only was the use of a weaponized drone on the Jammu IAF base an act of war but a violation of the ceasefire agreement concluded by DGs, military operations, of India and Pakistan, effective from midnight, 24-25 February 2021, writes Col. Anil Bhat (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Pakistan incident against Chinese workers is all the more worrying as Chinese personnel and technicians are working on various projects not only in Pakistan, but in other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, as well as many African nations, writes N S Venkataram for South Asia Monitor