Comment & Briefs

This Brief offers an overview of India’s long established as well as more recent external defence and security priorities, and delineates the three options available to the Defence Planning Committee under the extant economic and geopolitical circumstances.

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.

In the present form, Prime Minister Abadi looks set to emerge as the largest block but the chances of his coalition getting the required majority are slim.

While the recent Korean Summit marks the beginning of the new era, to achieve lasting peace will require intense diplomatic efforts.

With the ever increasing support and swelling number of protesters, Pashteen changed the name of the organisation from the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement to Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, a Movement for the Protection of Pashtuns.

Given the structural fragility of SAARC and its inability to promote South Asian regional integration, an attempt to reboot the organisation would be futile.

While the provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) are unlikely to be imposed on India anytime soon, it is nonetheless likely to prove a dampener on an otherwise booming defence relationship between India and the United States.

The Cell will remain hamstrung if its powers are not clearly defined, especially in regard to securing budgetary support which is to be provided by the Director General of Quality Assurance.

It may be time for India and China to discuss nuclear issues bilaterally with a view to mediating the uncertainties borne of their differing perspectives and postures.

With the powerful DPC in place and the NSA assuming the role of de facto CDS for all practical purposes other than in operational matters, the defence planning process is expected to become more rational and provide a boost to defence preparedness.