Canadian Asian News

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan: Welcome the new Great Game The US, eager to pull out of Afghanistan, is rushing a deal with the Taliban; Pak is basking in its place on the talks table; and India is wary of what is to follow. As the ripples of India’s decision to strip J&K of its special status are felt, Nirupama Subramanian on the geopolitics shaping the region and its policies. By Nirupama Subramanian ... TORONTO Welcome to the latest edition of the Great Game, wrote Harvard-educated Nirupama Subramanian, a noted Indian political correspondent and an analyst, in her think piece on the latest Kashmir developments and Afghanistan affairs. In her recent aritcle published by Indian Express Nirupama tried to link US troops withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan with Indo-Pak tussle over Kashmir. Here goes her article titled The new great game: It is not often that Zalmay Khalilzad flies into Delhi. The sharp-suited, self-assured Afghan-American diplomat has been on a year-long overdrive to stitch up an agreement with the Taliban to ensure US President Donald Trump’s promised withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan comes true. It is a process in which Pakistan has played a key role, by bringing the Taliban to the table. India, on the other hand, has no role at all. And with India’s friends in Afghanistan all sceptical or downright dismissive of the process, Khalilzad has kept his distance.When he arrived in the capital on August 6, it was the day after the Narendra Modi-led government had executed a series of constitutional moves in Jammu & Kashmir in keeping with its ideological positions revoking the state’s special status, making redundant Article 370, plus bifurcating J&K into two Union Territories. The ripples from the move had been felt as far as Doha in Qatar, where Khalilzad was closeted with Taliban leaders for an all-important eighth round of talks, with both sides said to be on the cusp of announcing a deal. The last thing that the US Special Representative on Afghanistan Reconciliation, or his boss Trump would want at this delicate point, when a deal with the Taliban seems within reach, is for Pakistan, the main force behind the Taliban participation, to get distracted over Kashmir. Read full story in Canadian Asian News’ current issue. www.canadianasiannews.com