Articles By Kanwal Sibal
Is it time to 'junk' NAM?
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 28 Aug , 2012
The NAM Summit in Teheran (August 26 to 31) provides an occasion for some general reflections on the movement, its salience today and India’s role in it. For those who have always decried the...
India’s Foreign Policy: Right Choice of Friends
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Aug , 2012
A new debate has started on the nature of a redefined Indian foreign policy that takes into account the country’s transformed relations with the United States of America. The latter is openly...
India’s defence ties with Europe
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 09 Aug , 2012
To appreciate better the subject of India’s defence relations with Europe some reflections of a general nature would be pertinent. The point needs to be made right at the start that India does...
A Diplomatic View of the MMRCA Deal
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol. 26.3 July - Sept 2011 | Date: 14 Jul , 2012
The Americans seemed to have proceeded on the assumption that with India placing orders for advanced US defence equipment such as 6 C-130J aircraft and 8 P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft,...
India-Pakistan: Yet another round of platitudes
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Jul , 2012
For those cynical about the dialogue process with Pakistan, the lack of substance in the joint statement issued after the latest round of Foreign Secretary level talks (July 4-5) confirms our...
Our real adversary is China not the US!
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 Jun , 2012
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s visit to India on June 5-6 and the third round of the India-US Strategic dialogue at Washington on June 13 have provoked much commentary on the direction of...
US offer calls for finesse
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 13 Jun , 2012
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s recent visit to India brings to the fore again the question of the depth India should impart to India-US defence ties. Panetta has been explicit about...
Pak bigger terrorist threat than Iran
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 24 May , 2012
India-US relations have neither burgeoned as much as the enthusiasts may have wanted nor withered as much as the skeptics may have anticipated. The relationship is neither in an impasse nor is it...
No Ground to Vacate Siachen
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 May , 2012
Peace with Pakistan is a desirable goal, but peace should be equally desired by both sides and both should contribute to it in equal measure. The burden of making peace should not fall on India...
India and its neighbours
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 25.1 Jan-Mar 2010 | Date: 16 Feb , 2012
< !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> It is considered almost axiomatic that management of relations with neighbours should be the first priority of any countrys foreign policy. The stakes are always high as conditions in its...
India-US Relations: Future Trajectory
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 16 Dec , 2011
The confidence of the Indian establishment that India–US relations were set on a steep upward trajectory has eroded noticeably with President Obama replacing President Bush. Even though...
The Darkness in Afghanistan
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol. 26.3 July - Sept 2011 | Date: 18 Nov , 2011
Even as the US is withdrawing, its leaders insist that they are not going to abandon Afghanistan, that they will maintain their long term commitment to it and not allow any single country to...
Rain of terror on India
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 23.3 Jul-Sep 2008 | Date: 07 Jul , 2011
The terrorists are carrying out a murderous war against India, but India is unable to declare a war on terrorism. We are among the biggest victims of terrorism, but we seem to be making the...
Neighbour is not sporting but we've handed out invite
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 28 Mar , 2011
Not only the World Cup sporting fortunes of our cricket team in the quarter final match against Australia were in play, the political fortunes of our relations with Pakistan were at stake...
Hardly any water in Wikileaks revelations
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 Mar , 2011
Professional diplomats will find little that is new or startling in the Wikileaks cables. For them the quality and content of reporting in the leaked cables is quite standard fare. Transmitting...
India-China Relations: Some Reflections
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 21 Feb , 2011
India’s China policy has been marked by friendship, sentimentalism, fear, diffidence, brinksmanship, wishful thinking and engagement. This mixture of attitudes reflects the complexity of the...
An anatomy of India-Pakistan Dialogue
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 25.3 Jul-Sep 2010 | Date: 06 Oct , 2010
It is very easy to take the position that we must have a dialogue with Pakistan. Arguments in favour can appear plausible. Pakistan is a neighbour and you cannot wish it away. It is better...