... Director, Vivekananda International Foundation; and Mohammad Hasan Sheikholeslami, President, Institute of Political and International Studies; addressed the participants with welcoming remarks.
Session 1 of the roundtable was devoted to the Russian, Indian and Iranian interests in Afghanistan and the possibilities of their interaction on issues of common interest in order to normalize the situation. The speakers included: Seyyed Rasoul Mousavi, MFA Director general of South Asia Department, Former Ambassador to Tajikistan and Finland; ...
... Islamabad. The United States has also put pressure on the Taliban in peace talks to
remove military personnel and structures
from neighboring countries, a direct reference to Pakistan where the Taliban has a significant presence on the ground.
India
India’s aims in Afghanistan are very clear: to counter the influence of Pakistan and to reduce the potential for Afghan territory to be used as a base for anti-Indian extremism. India has long been opposed to the Taliban and maintained a policy of non-engagement with ...
... arrangements concerning the initiative. New Delhi is known for its continued skepticism towards the BRI in connection with the China–Pakistan cooperation in transportation and logistics in Kashmir, a region that is disputed by India and Pakistan. India’s political sensitivity in this regard is quite understandable, and it is something that the SCO will have to keep in mind.
The package of documents approved in Bishkek draws particular attention to the approval of further actions by the SCO–Afghanistan Contact Group in order to facilitate the expedited launch of the peace process in Afghanistan. The instability in the country and the protracted armed confrontation between Kabul and its Taliban opponents have been the principal challenge ...
... actual entry point for the pipeline is Gwadar, it is possible that Karachi will be used to transit gas to China.
Iran’s energy partnership with China could transform into a political partnership, effectively cutting India off from Central Asia and Afghanistan.
India’s possible withdrawal from the project could also have a number of negative consequences for both New Delhi and Moscow. Under the worst-case scenario, India may lose all of its pipeline gas delivery projects, in which Pakistan is the key transit ...
... place in Beijing on the eve of the Qingdao summit. However, serious interest in increasing the SCO’s activities regarding Afghanistan expressed at the meetings has not yet been substantively documented (as a result of which the Declaration merely “summed ... ... content. The Qingdao Declaration drew particular attention to this fact.
Russia and other SCO states (with the exception of India, a fact also reflected in the meeting’s final document) generally support the One Belt One Road concept, while actively ...
... opportunities that have been missed in the last 30 years.
How would you characterise the Russia-Pakistan relationship?
Pakistan is an important player, we want to be involved, have a relationship with them. But they are not in the same category as China or India.
Is Russia supporting Taliban in Afghanistan?
We are playing a very complicated game – sometimes we support somebody, sometimes we help somebody else. Taliban is also different. When we saw the US going in with ground troops we were aghast. That was a disaster. Now it’s different ...
... working with Afghanistan and Iran to develop a trilateral transit through the development of the Chabahar Port to connect with Afghanistan and beyond. And lastly the most influential factor is the extra regional role especially US role to bring close India to Afghanistan making this more important country in the South Asian region ignoring Pakistan’s role in War on Terror.
Furthermore, recent visit of Modi to US on 25-26 June, 2017 concluded the joint statement of both countries, announced that Washington ...
... countermeasures India has a continent-crossing plan of Washington-Tokyo oriented (South-Central Asia policy) which is called North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC), the objective is to link India with Central Asia, Caucasus and Europe thru Iran and possibly Afghanistan. India has been trying to interweave itself deeper within the infrastructural and economic fabric of Eurasia.The NSTC is a multimodal trade corridor which extends from India to Caucasus, linking the India Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, ...
... parliament
approved the agreement
on the gas pipeline, which is notable given the United States is supportive of the pipeline project, bypassing both the Russian route and concurring with the Iran-Pakistan pipeline. In April 2012, disagreements between India and Afghanistan, and India and Pakistan on transit fees,
slowed down
the process again.
The
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India
Natural Gas pipeline (TAPI) is planned to be 1,814 km long, with 214 km running through Turkmenistan from
Galkynysh
— ...
... Ghani’s
visit to India
The two sides considered the trade and transit agreement signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2011. Modi stated that India should join this agreement in order to make it possible for Afghan goods to be transported to India and Indian goods to Afghanistan via Pakistan. Implementing these plans, he stated, would make it possible to revolutionise road transport in Asia. He also emphasised that India intended to help build the Iranian deep-water port of Chabahar, which will open up access for ...
