The Afghan government’s peace and reconciliation overtures to the militants, initially at the unofficial level but later sanctioned officially, have formed a key theme of state security policy from the early days of the post-Taliban administration in Afghanistan. Yet far from producing peace and stability, they seem to have played into the hands of the violent groups intent on overthrowing the country’s internationally supported and legitimate political system in the past decade.

• Ahmad Shayeq Qassem
• July 2014
• Strategic Analysis

Problems common to many Asian states suggest a pattern of crisis in Asia. The evidence suggests that the root cause is the similarity in the patterns of political development of postcolonial states. In Asia such states have attempted to reconcile state strength and internal diversity by constructing a triangular balance between identity construction, hegemonic governance and economic development. Unfortunately, this fragile balance eroded as state structures matured and economies grew, which increasingly exposed countries to escalating crises of legitimacy and instability.

• Björn Dressel , Michael Wesley
• July 2014
• Strategic Analysis

On November 5, 2013 Pakistan conducted its fourth test of the Hatf-IX (Nasr) short range battlefield ‘nuclear’ missile. To date there have been four flight tests of the missile system. After the first three tests (April 19, 2011, May 29, 2012 and February 11, 2013) Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) had put out identical press releases.1 These statements claimed that the missile had a range of 60 km and carried ‘nuclear warheads (sic) of appropriate yield’.

• Arun Vishwanathan
• July 2014
• Strategic Analysis

The following commentary argues that the strategic and structural solutions proffered by advocates of ‘hybrid’ governance—encompassing elements from distinctly different ideological backgrounds or schools of thought—ignore or fail to address certain inherent shortcomings in their approach that are counter-productive to the ongoing and long-term statebuilding and peacebuilding projects in Afghanistan. The following study elucidates some of these shortcomings.

• Srinjoy Bose , Nishank Motwani
• July 2014
• Strategic Analysis

In the years since the hostilities in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, the understandable international focus on the evidence of war crimes by both sides has diverted attention from certain other questions that emerge from the 26-year conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Here I briefly explore three general questions that have arisen not only in Sri Lanka but also in many other modern conflicts, including those characterised by what is variously called asymmetric warfare, violent extremism or terrorism.

• Adam Roberts
• July 2014
• Strategic Analysis

India has significantly invested in Nepal’s development through economic assistance since 1952. Despite deploying aid to win the hearts and minds of the people of Nepal, India has not entirely succeeded in doing so. Paradoxically, an analysis of Indian aid and gaps in the planning, processes, modalities and perceptions of India’s motivation shows that it has possibly contributed to the fuelling of anti-India sentiments among the Nepalese population.

• Monalisa Adhikari
• May 2014
• Strategic Analysis

A discordant political relationship, three and a half wars and Pakistan’s material support for secessionist militants in the border states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir compelled India to harden its international border with Pakistan. An inward-looking economy and the absence of an imperative for regional economic integration also resulted in restricted movement of people and goods across the border. However, in the past decade or so, an emergent Indian economy coupled with both countries’ desire to engage themselves constructively have paved the way for softening the border.

• Pushpita Das
• May 2014
• Strategic Analysis

India has stepped up its efforts to cooperate on security issues in general and on maritime security in particular with its island neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). At the core of this lies the initiative to build a trilateral maritime arrangement with Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It is in this larger context that the second National Security Advisors’ (NSAs) meeting took place in Colombo in July 2013.

• P. K. Ghosh
• May 2014
• Strategic Analysis

Elections for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) of Sri Lanka were held on September 21, 25 years after they were first held in 1988 under the Thirteenth Amendment (13A) to the Sri Lankan Constitution, which formed part of the Indo-Lanka Accord. It was, however, the first election since the demerger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces in 2006.1 With the end of 30 years of war that had culminated in the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), election to the NPC was politically crucial for the Tamils, especially in the post-war context.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• May 2014
• Strategic Analysis

In the post-colonial era, religion has emerged as a powerful political force in South Asia. The key question that emerges is: how and why did religion become this potent political ideology in the South Asian region? Aiming to find the answer to this question, Ali Riaz, along with other scholars from the region—namely Abdulkader Sinno, Amalendu Misra, Subho Basu, Farhat Haq and A.R.M. Imtiyaz—offers a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between religion and politics in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

• Md. Mizanur Rahman
• January 2014
• Strategic Analysis

The rapidity and selflessness with which India rolled out millions of doses of vaccines as aid despite the massive requirements of its own vaccination drive, is being particularly appreciated by world leaders and observers.

• Ashok Sajjanhar
• January 29, 2021
• IDSA Comments

While Imran Khan’s efforts to build legitimacy around his ‘personality’ as a religious person and a crusader against corruption do not seem to have convinced many people, his government’s inability to bring the much-promised tabdeeli (‘change’) to Pakistan is beginning to hurt him politically.

• Nazir Ahmad Mir
• January 04, 2021
• IDSA Comments

India and Bangladesh fought together “in the defence of human liberty”, in the words of Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman, to liberate Bangladesh, fifty momentous years ago.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• December 16, 2020
• IDSA Comments

The street power of the ulema groups in Bangladesh is pushing the government to further Islamise the social sphere, which will pave the way for the ultimate political success of the Islamists.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• December 11, 2020
• Issue Brief

There is a need to widely disseminate China’s insidious role as an illegal occupier of Kashmir’s territory, including its territorial grab in the trans-Karakoram tract, in order to raise public awareness of the issue – both in India and at the international level.

• Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy
• November 13, 2020
• Special Feature

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has revealed the inherent weaknesses in the existing global supply chain and risks of over-reliance on China’s manufacturing industry, presents new opportunities for India to rethink its industrial strategy, especially policies concerning the growth of its manufacturing sector.

• Kogila Balakrishnan , Saurabh Kukreja
• November 13, 2020
• Issue Brief

Given the assertive foreign policy followed by China and the desperation of Pakistan after the abolition of Article 370, India has to follow a proactive foreign policy. It is only India’s proactiveness that can keep both China and Pakistan in check in Bangladesh.

• Anand Kumar
• September 18, 2020
• IDSA Comments

The growing assertion of presidential executive powers in the absence of parliament poses a critical challenge to functioning democracy in Sri Lanka.

• Gulbin Sultana
• July 17, 2020
• Issue Brief

While the ruling elite including army in Pakistan considers CPEC a boon, many analysts view it as a Chinese game-plan to turn Pakistan into a permanent colony, a rentier-cum-client state.

• Yaqoob-ul-Hassan
• June 30, 2020
• IDSA Comments

A focused development plan for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which provide India with a commanding geostrategic presence in the Bay of Bengal and access to South and Southeast Asia, could greatly enhance the country’s geopolitical leverage in the Indian Ocean Region.

• Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy
• June 26, 2020
• Policy Brief