The U.S.’s continued insistence on talking directly to the Taliban without the involvement of the Afghan government, has worrying implications for the region and especially India. In conversation with Ashwin Ahmad, SNI Editor Surya Gangadharan and Associate Editor Amitabh Revi say that the suspicious motives of U.S.’s Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad during the ongoing peace talks, the hard to be believed assurances of the Taliban to the U.S. on curbing terror, and the ‘hidden’ Pakistan hand, will continue to ensure an unstable and violence-ridden Afghanistan in the coming future.
The post-Cold War order is fading, but the next world order has yet to emerge. As America, China, Europe, and Russia reposition for an uncertain future, old assumptions are collapsing. This is the story of borrowed power, strategic decline, rising rivals, and a world caught between eras.
For eighty years, the cross and the agency have traveled together. Missionaries mapped territories, pacified populations, and laundered political operations as charity. When India asks where was the money used, Washington sends a Secretary of State to make the question stop.
When Trump flew to Beijing carrying an unwinnable war, rising fuel prices, and a closed strait he could not reopen alone, Xi gave him pageantry with a twist. Nothing was signed. Yet, perhaps everything was decided.
The Hormuz closure wasn't a miscalculation — it was the missing piece. With maritime routes uninsurable and IMEC the last corridor standing, Trump has seized control of global trade infrastructure through a private governance body accountable to no one but its chairman for life.
As Ukraine strikes deep and Russia feels the walls closing in, every move becomes a signal. Schelling explains the dance of coercion. Fearon explains why peace is so hard. When perception drives decisions and time is the enemy, wisdom may be the only path that prevents catastrophe.
Pakistan has used terrorism and madman brinksmanship to paralyze India's responses, until the Modi government called out its bluff through evolving actions - Surgical strikes, Balakot, and Operation Sindoor. Pakistan will not stop. So can't India. A deep analysis.
Disruptive promise of and June 12th US ban on Mythos shook the world. There are competing AI visions - Krishna vs Clarke. Convergence of Quantum, AGI/ASI and Crypto may unprecedentedly destroy our world if not enslave humanity.
Musk promises abundance for all. A Scottish earl explained 200 years ago why the machines that make everything will make their owners richer than ever, and everyone else dependent. The real question was never the size of your ration. It is who owns the river, and who holds the rod above him.
