K.Venkateshwar.Rao

POLITICS   / K. Venkateshwar Rao 3 MARCH 2020 The recent US-Taliban deal might have given President Donald Trump a reason to rejoice, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s rejection of the Taliban prisoner release clause in the US deal and Afghan women’s disappointment at the return of the Taliban to power cast a large shadow over the deal. Afghan President Ghani: US is ‘Only a Facilitator’ Ghani remarked: “is not in the authority of the United States to decide, they are only a facilitator” a day after the deal was signed in Qatar, Doha. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo observed that “talks between the Afghan government and Taliban groups will be “rocky and bumpy, but for the first time the conversation will be among the Afghan people.” All these indicate that a topsy-turvy road is ahead for the deal. The Taliban wants the release of their 5,000 prisoners before they start negotiations, while the Afghan government wants to use those detainees as a bargaining chip to pe...

WAR   / K.Venkateshwar. Rao 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 The US entry into Afghanistan that began as revenge for the  9/11 attacks,  gradually transformed into a mission for ensuring peace and democracy has now become an exercise to provide an honourable exit to the US. Afghanistan, which is acknowledged as the “graveyard of empires,” holds the distinction of forcing all global powers to back away at some point or the other. Earlier Russia burnt its hands in Afghanistan, and now the US realizes its folly in getting entangled in the Afghanistan imbroglio. President Trump’s desperation to get out of Afghanistan before the  2020 Presidential elections  is likely to plunge the strife-torn nation into a “civil war” and adversely impact peace and prosperity of the neighbouring Pakistan and India. Should the Taliban acquire a commanding position in Afghanistan, they are likely to spread their tentacles in neighbouring Pakistan and Kashmir, which would be bad news ...