[ Important Picks of the Day ]

[ NATIONAL ]

Afghanistan key focus at SCO meet, Modi, Jaishankar to spell out India’s plans (↓)

The PM will address the summit virtually. EAM Jaishankar will attend in-person meetings that will be focused on Afghanistan.

PM Modi to virtually lead the Indian delegation at annual SCO summit on 17 September

External Affairs Minister will travel to Dushanbe for the summit and attend a meeting on the Afghanistan crisis along with holding a series of bilateral meetings.

India sees itself as ‘net provider’ of security in the Indian Ocean region, says envoy Sandhu (↓)

Sandhu on Tuesday said that challenges faced by nations are ‘complex’ to be tackled single-handedly & mutual interdependence is a sign of strength.

Rolls-Royce ready to co-develop, manufacture fighter aircraft engines in India (↓)

Rolls-Royce’s India and South Asia president Kishore Jayaraman says co-development is in line with ‘Atmanirbhar’ design and manufacturing initiative.

Gujarat’s cabinet has 24 new faces as CM Patel drops all Rupani ministers (↓)

Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to ten cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including 5 ministers of state with independent charge.

The US is interested in transferring its capital from China to India, says Nitin Gadkari

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the US has shown its interest in transferring its capital from China to India.

‘India expected to grow at 7.2% in 2021; growth could decelerate next year’

India is expected to grow at 7.2% in 2021 but economic growth could decelerate next year, according to a UN report. The report projects that India will clock an economic growth of 6.7% in 2022, slower than the country’s expected 2021 growth rate.

India is looking to raise new ‘rocket force’ for missiles, says General Bipin Rawat (↓)

Warning that China is becoming very aggressive, and would soon step into Afghanistan after friendly overtures to Iran and Turkey, General Rawat on Wednesday said India needs an integrated national security architecture to deal with 2 hostile neighbors, non-contact technological warfare, and internal security challenges.

[ NEIGHBORHOOD ]

‘He is a busy man’: Imran Khan on no phone call from Joe Biden

It’s been almost 8 months and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is yet to receive a courtesy phone call from US President Joe Biden. When asked about no phone call from Biden during a CNN interview, the Pakistan PM replied: “He is a busy man.” ​”But our relationship with the US is not just dependent on a phone call, it needs to be a multidimensional relationship,” Khan added.

A month later, Akhundzada, Haqqani, and Yaqoob remain in the shadows (↓)

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of an eponymous terror group, traveled to Quetta over the weekend due to personal safety concerns; Akhundzada is still to be seen in Kandahar or Kabul, while Yaqoob remains in shadows.

Afghan envoys marooned abroad after Taliban’s sudden return

The Taliban’s abrupt return to power has left hundreds of Afghan diplomats overseas in limbo: running out of money to keep missions operating, fearful for families back home, and desperate to secure refuge abroad. The Islamist militant movement, which swiftly ousted Afghanistan’s Western-backed govt on Aug 15, said on Tuesday that it had sent messages to all of its embassies telling diplomats to continue their work.

Pakistan’s destabilization playbook: Khalistan separatist activism within the US (↓)

South-Asia Hudson experts had evaluated that 55 interlinked Kashmiri & Khalistani groups in the US: if they get funding/ military training from Pakistan and have ties to terrorists in India.

CIA says Al Qaeda is regrouping post-Taliban takeover in Afghanistan: Report

As per estimates within the American intelligence community, it will take just two years for Al Qaeda to regain its previous strike capacity.

The US wanted to replace top envoy Khalilzad hours before Taliban takeover in Kabul

There was frustration with Zalmay Khalilzad, at the White House, who was a Trump appointee since the killings and blasts in Kabul didn’t end and the Taliban was going back on commitments.

7 Pakistan Army soldiers, 5 terrorists killed in S Waziristan

Pakistani security forces cordoned off the area, and began a search operation “to eliminate any other terrorists” found in the area, it added. 

Afghanistan key focus at SCO meet, Modi, Jaishankar to spell out India’s plans

To spell out India’s future plans in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will both be part of the crucial Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, which will be held in Tajikistan capital Dushanbe over the next two days.

• This will be the first time India will discuss its plans for Afghanistan with the Central Asian leaders after the Taliban announced a new interim government in Kabul on 7 September.
• According to sources, the new Taliban dispensation has become a “huge cause of concern” for New Delhi as it has names of United Nations (UN)-blacklisted individuals and those who are on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s most-wanted list, playing key roles in the cabinet.
• India also believes that “Pakistan’s heavy influence” on the new Taliban government has raised concerns over cross-border terrorism vis-à-vis Kashmir.
• While Modi will address the SCO Council of Heads of State virtually Friday, Jaishankar will attend the SCO Afghanistan contact group meeting along with other foreign ministers.
• The SCO Council of Heads of State meeting will be chaired by the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.
• It will be attended in person by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and other leaders of the Central Asian countries.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also expected to attend virtually.

Bilateral meets for Jaishankar: Jaishankar will also hold bilateral meetings with some of his counterparts from the region. Foreign ministers of China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia and Tajikistan are all expected to be present for the meetings in Dushanbe.

• According to sources, India will be discussing with its regional partners such as Russia and the Central Asian countries on how to distribute development aid to Afghanistan, with its economy in dire straits.
• While India hasn’t had any official-level contacts with the Taliban leaders based in Kabul and now ruling Afghanistan, it continues to remain engaged with its commanders in Doha, Qatar.
• Addressing the UN High-Level Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan earlier this week, Jaishankar said India will continue to support Afghan people as it had done before the Taliban came to power.

“……India is willing to stand by the Afghan people, just as in the past. To ensure that this happened speedily and effectively, we believe that the international community must come together to create the best possible enabling environment. Among the challenges that the current situation poses is that of efficient logistics,” he said.

He also said that the Taliban leaders sitting in Kabul need to ensure that humanitarian assistance providers are given “unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access to Afghanistan”.

Terror concerns: Modi and Jaishankar are also expected to take up the tenets of the UNSCR 2593 (2021), especially with the Central Asian countries and others, in dealing with the new administration in Afghanistan.

• SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure executive director will also be attending the meeting.
• Citing the UNSCR 2593, India has been repeatedly stressing that the Afghan territory should not be used for fomenting international terrorist networks, especially the al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

India sees itself as ‘net provider’ of security in the Indian Ocean region, says envoy Sandhu

India sees itself as a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean region where it helps build economic capabilities and improve maritime security for its friends and partners, India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu in the US has said, ahead of the next week’s first in-person Quad summit.

The challenges that we face today, as nations, are far too complex, to be tackled single-handedly. This mutual interdependence, to me, is not a sign of weakness; but a source of strength. It is the friendship that we cherish; the trust that we build; the connectivity that we craft that holds potential solutions to many of the pressing problems that confront today’s world, Sandhu said on Tue.

US President Joe Biden will host the first in-person Quad summit on Sept 24 in Washington which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison, and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.

PM Modi will hold a bilateral meet with US President Joe Biden likely on Sept 24: Ministry of External Affairs

The four leaders would discuss promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, addressing the climate crisis and deepening their ties, and advancing practical cooperation on areas like combatting COVID-19, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Mon.

• In his address to an event here of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for launching the Indian Ocean Initiative, Sandhu said that the Indian Ocean is a bridge with nations in immediate, and extended neighborhoods.
• Carnegie’s launch is coming at a time when the term Indo-Pacific is, perhaps, increasingly becoming one of the most frequently used terms in the global strategic lexicon, the ambassador said.
• Our relationships with countries in the Indian Ocean are strong, and we are also helping build economic capabilities; and improve maritime security, for our friends and partners.
• During COVID-19, we sent medical teams and supplied equipment to the Indian Ocean island nations of the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, among other countries in the Indian Ocean region, he said.
• Sandhu said that India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific was articulated in Prime Minister’s keynote address to the Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018.

We view the Indo-Pacific, as a free, open, inclusive region, which embraces all, in the common pursuit of progress and prosperity. The centrality of ASEAN is a key element of the Indo-Pacific. There is convergence on this, with our partners, whether it be under the QUAD; or the trilateral with France and Australia, he said.

• The US has been pushing for a broader role by India in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.
• India, the US, and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open, and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military maneuvering in the region.
• China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

US, UK, and Australia announce new defense pact: On Wed, US President Joe Biden announced a new defense pact between the US, UK, and Australia, known as AUKUS, to share advanced technologies, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Politico reports that the agreement will help the three countries share expertise in artificial intelligence, cyber underwater systems, and long-range capabilities as well as result in Australia obtaining an American-made “conventionally armed” nuclear-powered submarine.

Australia will build eight nuclear-powered submarines under a new Indo-Pacific security partnership with the United States and Britain that analysts say will likely rile China, which will see the pact as an attempt to contain it

India is looking to raise new ‘rocket force’ for missiles, says General Bipin Rawat

Warning that China is becoming very aggressive, and would soon step into Afghanistan after friendly overtures to Iran and Turkey, Gen Rawat on Wed said India needs an integrated national security architecture to deal with 2 hostile neighbors, non-contact technological warfare, and internal security challenges.

• Taking recourse to Samuel Huntington’s seminal thesis ‘Clash of Civilizations’ during a talk at the India International Centre, the chief of defense staff said it mentions that the Confucian or `Sinic’ civilization would actually join hands with the Islamic civilization to counter the western one.
• Noting that the rise of China had happened faster than what the world has envisaged, India will have to wait and watch how events unfold in the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
• Turning to Pakistan, the CDS said the western adversary will continue to fuel and expand its proxy war against India.

“A weaker adversary like Pakistan will always keep us engaged through a proxy war. They are, in fact, a proxy of our northern adversary. China has shown aggression in the South China Sea with the nations in that area. Whether it happens in the form of direct aggression or use of technology along our land borders, we have to be prepared,” he added.

• India is adopting “a whole of govt approach” to deal with all security issues.
• The country is looking to raise a new `rocket force’ for different kinds of missiles, ensure more `jointness’ between the armed forces and the central armed police forces, and create dual-use infrastructure and logistics through civil-military fusion, he said.
• Efforts are already underway to build integrated war-fighting machinery through the creation of unified theatre commands, strengthening capabilities in the domains of space, cyberspace, and special operations.
• With China becoming “more and more aggressive”, India also has to consider technology as a very important facet of war-fighting because an adversary will try to disrupt our strategic networks as well as energy, banking, transport, and communication grids.
• Overall, India needs to start looking at “transforming” the national security architecture, which will require some kind of integration and jointness among all security forces as well as civilian organizations, he added.

Gujarat’s cabinet has 24 new faces as CM Patel drops all Rupani ministers

The swearing-in was supposed to take place on Wed but had to be deferred following protests over the choice of ministers. 

• Patel did not retain any of his predecessor Vijay Rupani’s ministers. The only old guard is assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi who resigned from that post earlier in the day. Trivedi is likely to get a key portfolio.
• Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.
• CM Patel was present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony, along with Rupani, whose sudden resignation from the post last Sat led to the formation of the new ministry.
• The cabinet ministers are Rajendra Trivedi, former state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, Rushikesh Patel, Purnesh Modi, Raghavji Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Kiritsinh Rana, Naresh Patel, Pradip Parmar, and Arjunsinh Chauhan.
• The portfolios are likely to be announced in the evening after the first cabinet meeting, officials said

Pakistan’s Destabilization Playbook: Khalistan Separatist Activism Within the US

Hudson Institute’s South and Central Asia Program assembled a group of South Asia experts to evaluate the 55 interlinked Kashmiri and Khalistani groups currently operating within the United States and the possibility that these groups receive funding, support, and military training from Pakistan, have ties to militant and terrorist groups in India, and could detrimentally impact US foreign policy in South Asia.

• The activities of Khalistani groups located in North America should be investigated, within the limits prescribed by law, to prevent a re-occurrence of the violence orchestrated by the Khalistan movement in the 1980s.
• During that period, along with numerous attacks on civilians, the Khalistan movement was linked to the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to London that left 329 dead and the failed bombing of an Air India jet in Tokyo on the same day.
• The US govt has shown reluctance to act on intelligence from India concerning Pakistan-supported Khalistan militancy, largely due to Pakistan’s role as the artery providing logistical support to the US military mission in Afghanistan following 9/11.
• Compounding the issue, China has blocked the designation of Pakistan-based terrorists under the United States’ terrorist-designation process within the United Nations Security Council.

A month later, Akhundzada, Haqqani, and Yaqoob remain in the shadows

A month after Sunni Pashtun Islamists militarily took over Kabul, there is uncertainty and confusion within the Taliban government with US-designated global terrorists and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani remaining in the shadows and visiting Quetta earlier this week.

• Haqqani belongs to Miramshah or Peshwar Shura of Taliban with Defence minister Mullah Yaqoob Omari is part of the Quetta Shura. Haqqani is said to have returned to Kabul on Wed night.
• Kabul watchers say that the main players of Taliban, particularly self-declared Emir-ul-Momin Haibatullah Akhundzada’s whereabouts are not clear as he has not been seen in public either in Kandahar or in Kabul.
• While deputy prime minister Mullah Baradar is in Kandahar nursing his angst at being politically humiliated by both Haqqani and Yaqoob, the latter two are also lurking in the shadows.
• “Haqqani’s visit to Quetta over the weekend shows that the crown prince of terror is still worried about his physical safety in Kabul due to over the horizon capabilities of US Central Command as well as the resistance still led by Amrullah Saleh,” said a senior official.
• Haqqani has a bounty of $10 million on his head as declared by the FBI.
• According to intelligence officials, the Taliban government is still to start governing as there is political jostling within the Cabinet with the Haqqani group controlling Kabul through the domination of its Zadran tribe military cadre touching nearly 6000.
• Even the intelligence chief of the Taliban government is a special assistant to Sirajuddin Haqqani.
• As there is no regular Afghan Army as such, the role of defense minister Yaqoob is largely ceremonial as Taliban cadre is with Haqqani.
• The key portfolios of the border and tribal affairs and, information and broadcasting are held by hardcore Taliban terrorists who were released from Guantanamo Bay prison by the Obama administration.

CIA says Al Qaeda is regrouping post-Taliban takeover in Afghanistan: Report

United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Deputy Director David Cohen said on Wednesday (local time) that there were early signs of Al Qaeda regrouping in Taliban ruled Afghanistan, says a report by intelnews.org

• However, he added that the CIA was already working to develop “methods to work within the horizon”.
• Cohen reportedly referred to current intelligence reports of the CIA.
• He was speaking at Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington DC.
• During his address, he reportedly acknowledged that shuttering of the United States embassy in Kabul, as well as the closure of a network of CIA stations across Afghanistan, had “diminished” the ability of American intelligence agencies to assess conditions on the ground
• Cohen added that much of the intelligence that has been collected in recent weeks comes from “over-the-horizon platforms”, meaning that the collection is taking place from countries that border Afghanistan.
• At the moment, the US intelligence community estimates that it could take Al Qaeda between one and two years to amass its former strike capability, to directly threaten American interests, reported Intelnews.org.
• The presence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was the primary reason behind the invasion of the country by the United States in 2001.

The US Wanted to Replace Top Envoy Khalilzad Hours Before Taliban Takeover in Kabul

The US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken wanted to replace special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad for peace talks and Afghanistan reconciliation hours before the Taliban’s forced takeover in Kabul, CNN-News18 reported citing anonymous sources.

• This was stated in the last phone call between Blinken and former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Aug 14.
• The report further says that In the last call with President Ghani, Blinken told him that Salman Ahmed was to lead the peace efforts. There was no mention of Zalmay Khalilzad.
• The plan, however, was derailed after the Taliban decided to enter Kabul and stage a coup that led to Ghani’s escape to “prevent mass bloodshed and killings” in the Afghan capital.
• Salman Ahmed is a Pakistani-American who is currently the Director of Policy Planning in the Biden Administration advising on national security and foreign policy aspects at the US State Department.
• Ahmed was even dispatched to Doha during the Taliban takeover to assist Khalilzad with the negotiations around mid-August.
• Ahmed was earlier part of Obama’s National Security Council and has served at the United Nations focused on the peace process.
• There had been an increasing level of frustration with Khalilzad, at the White House, who was a Trump appointee, since the killings and explosions in Kabul didn’t end and the Taliban was going back on its commitments.
• In the days after the fall of Kabul, Khalilzad has been criticized for offering false commitments for peace and power-sharing on behalf of the Taliban. Khalilzad also had no credibility left with the Ghani-led Afghan govt.
• Senior Afghan diplomat and Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ambassador Ashraf Haidari believes Ambassador Khalilzad was tasked to talk to the Taliban and exclude the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to achieve the presidential goal tied to the US electoral politics.