The significance of this cultural milestone lies not only in its architectural grandeur but also in the message it conveys–a testament to the harmonious relationship between Bharat and the Gulf region.

The BAPS Hindu Mandir is the Middle East’s first traditional Hindu stone temple. Situated in the Abu Mureikhah area, the majestic structure embodies the spirit of cultural peace and collaboration and is also a reflection of the enduring friendship between India and the UAE.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, donated 13.5 acres of land in 2015 for the construction of the mandir.

The UAE Government, during its Year of Tolerance, allocated a further 13.5 acres of land in January 2019–making a total of 27 acres of land gifted for the Mandir, a temple release said earlier.

India’s Ambassador to UAE, Sunjay Sudhir visited the BAPS Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi last month to see the progress of its construction.

In December, Swami Ishwarcharandas of the BAPS called on the Prime Minister at his residential office and extended him an invitation to inaugurate the BAPS Mandir in Abu Dhabi on February 14. (ANI)

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ऑस्टिन ने कहा, “मुझे अपने कैंसर निदान के बारे में राष्ट्रपति को बताना चाहिए था। मुझे अपनी टीम और अमेरिकी जनता को भी बताना चाहिए था और मैं इसकी पूरी जिम्मेदारी लेता हूं। उन्होंने कहा, “मैं अपने साथियों और अमेरिकी लोगों से माफी मांगता हूं।” ऑस्टिन ने कहा कि वह अभी भी पैर के दर्द से जूझ रहे हैं और उनकी फिजिकल थेरेपी चल रही है। वह अपनी रिकवरी की समय-सीमा को दिनों या हफ्तों के रूप में नहीं बता सके। यूएस न्यूज एंड वर्ल्ड रिपोर्ट में ऑस्टिन के हवाले से कहा गया है, “मैं ओलंपिक के लिए तैयार नहीं होऊंगा, लेकिन मैं सुधार करूंगा।” सीबीएस न्यूज़ ने गुरुवार को बताया कि अमेरिकी अधिकारियों ने “इराक और सीरिया के अंदर ईरान के केंद्रों पर हमलों की एक योजना को मंजूरी दे दी है।”

सीबीएस न्यूज़ की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, हमले कब होंगे यह निर्धारित करने में मौसम एक बड़ा कारक होगा। इस सप्ताह की शुरुआत में, बाइडेन ने कहा था कि वह जानते हैं कि उनका प्रशासन हमले का जवाब कैसे दे और ऑस्टिन ने गुरुवार को कहा कि अब ईरान समर्थित मिलिशिया को और अधिक कमजोर करने का समय आ गया है।” (आईएएनएस)

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That’s if Haley and DeSantis come too close to him in percentage points, they might flip against Trump. That means voters could flip for DeSantis or Haley if they find their percentage points are as powerful as Trump for electability in the 2024 presidential race, analysts said as Trump’s legal woes would be weighed in as a negative factor against Haley and DeSantis’ clean chits.

Trump has described his high standing with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire as “blowouts” in his favour. But, that strategy could spell danger for the front-runner, as some Republican strategists point out. Trump’s overconfidence in a blowout means that those in second and third – DeSantis and former United Nations envoy Nikki Haley – only have to reach a certain percentage of points to beat Trump’s high bar, media reports said.

“Trump is out there saying, ‘Listen, I’m 70 points up here, I’m 60 points up here. He’s setting this up, and this has always been his M.O. – of winning, of inevitability,” Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist, told Politico media network. “That is a very dangerous thing when it comes to politics.”

If the two (Haley and DeSantis) were to reach a certain percentage, voters could sense panic in Trump’s camp, possibly spelling disaster. Some analysts said there was a hint of this in recent attack ads aired against Haley in New Hampshire. “There’s a real chance,” Rob Stutzman, a Republican political strategist, told the outlet, “that voters will smell fear”.

The ad attacking Haley “is a sign that they’re seeing numbers that make them nervous”, he pointed out.

While polls and most analysts agree, Trump has little chance of losing in Iowa, a strong performance by Haley could boost her chances of proving she can win in New Hampshire, where she has seen a massive surge in popularity, overtaking DeSantis for second place — though still 21.5 points behind Trump, media reports said.

DeSantis on the flip-side has put all of his chips in on Iowa. The Florida Governor has a massive 32.7-point gap to make up between now and January 15, but if he exceeds expectations, a second-place finish could throw a shadow of doubt over polls and make voters reconsider how strong Trump really is, the Washington Examiner said in its analysis of how the primaries are shaping up for the three candidates for the GOP nomination.

The primary appears to have been whittled down to a three-person race, with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie still campaigning but looking in from the outside. Christie recently said he would be willing to back either DeSantis or Haley for President, and big wins, or close seconds, by either of them in Iowa or New Hampshire could force him to put his support where his mouth is. (ians)

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Scientists have long known that the immune system plays an important part in human reactivity to allergens and infections in the environment, but it was unknown if it also had a role in inducing these sorts of behaviours towards allergic stimuli. According to Yale-led research published July 12 in the journal Nature, it turns out that the immune system plays a crucial role in changing our behaviors.

“We find immune recognition controls behavior, specifically defensive behaviors against toxins that are communicated first through antibodies and then to our brains,” said Ruslan Medzhitov, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and senior author of the study.

Without immune system communication, the brain does not warn the body about potential dangers in the environment and does not try to avoid those threats, the study shows.

A team in the Medzhitov lab, led by Esther Florsheim, at the time a postdoctoral researcher at Yale and now an assistant professor at Arizona State University, and Nathaniel Bachtel, a graduate student at the School of Medicine, studied mice that had been sensitized to have allergic reactions to ova, a protein found in chicken eggs.

As expected, these mice tended to avoid water laced with ova, while control mice tended to prefer ova-laced water sources.
The aversion to ova-laced water sources in sensitized mice lasted for months, they found.The team then examined whether they could alter the behavior of sensitized mice by manipulating immune system variables.

They found, for instance, that mice allergic to ova lost their aversion to the protein in their water if Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, produced by the immune system, were blocked.

IgE antibodies trigger the release of mast cells, a type of white blood cell that, along with other immune system proteins, plays a crucial role in communicating to areas of the brain that control aversion behavior.

Without IgE as an initiator, the transmission of information was interrupted, so that mice no longer avoided the allergen.Medzhitov said that the findings illustrate how the immune system evolved to help animals avoid dangerous ecological niches.

Understanding how the immune system memorizes potential dangers, he added, could one day help suppress excessive reactions to many allergens and other pathogens. (ANI)

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In his address, Trump tried to play down the criminal charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and from his own commitments to take revenge on his opponents if he returns to the White House, seeking to parry warnings that he poses a danger to democracy. In his address, he said that the investigations into his presidency, like the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and his first impeachment for pressuring Ukraine to disparage Biden, amounted to an effort to “overthrow the duly elected President.”

As candidates ramp up appearances in Iowa ahead of the caucuses on January 15, Trump, who refused to accept his 2020 election loss, compared Biden to a fascist tyrant and the campaign distributed signs reading ‘BIDEN ATTACKS DEMOCRACY.’ He accused Biden “and his band of Marxists, Communists and Fascists” of trying “to crush free speech, censor their critics,” and “criminalize dissent,” according to The Washington Post report.

Donald Trump said, “They’ve been waging an all-out war on American democracy,” Trump said. “And becoming more and more extreme and repressive.” “If you put me back in the White House, that reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again,” he added. Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric at Texas A&M University, said that Trump’s speech showed that US President Joe Biden’s framing of the 2024 election as democracy versus authoritarianism is resonating with voters. (ANI)

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US facilities in Iraq and Syria have been hit by a series of low-level attacks by drones and rockets over the past 10 days that have been claimed by Iran-backed militia, amid growing fears that the Hamas-Israel war could escalate into a regional conflict. The attacks have injured at least 24 US servicemen and the death of one civilian contractor. There were three such attacks on Thursday, striking two US bases in Syria and one in western Iraq.

Experts told the Guardian this week there was “a limit to patience” in Washington and that the administration of President Joe Biden would probably seek to deter with force any further attacks despite the risk of escalation. Biden has already ordered two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean and sent new anti-missile units with hundreds of troops to protect US bases and allies in the region. The US retaliatory strikes were carried out by two F-16 fighter jets at about 4.30am on Friday near Abu Kamal, a Syrian town on the border with Iraq, where the US has a major base that has been the target of several recent attacks by Iran-backed militia.

It was unclear if Iranian nationals were killed. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, described “self-defence strikes” and said Biden had directed the tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests”. US officials said they did not coordinate the strikes with Israel, and Austin said the operation was separate and distinct from Israel’s war against Hamas.

He added: “We continue to urge all state and non-state entities not to take action that would escalate into a broader regional conflict.” A week ago, a US warship intercepted missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, possibly at Israel. The recent attacks on the US have been claimed by groups either directly controlled by Tehran or sharing the ideology of other groups fighting Israel. On Thursday, a US base at Kharab al-Jir in Syria was attacked for the second time in two days, and a base in western Iraq was also hit.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said at the UN on Thursday that if Israel’s offensive against Hamas did not stop, the US would “not be spared from this fire”. Charles Lister, the director of the Syria and countering terrorism and extremism programmes at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the attacks showed Iran had an extensive network of well-armed, aggressive and well-coordinated proxies across the region, “which it has established for exactly this scenario”. He added: “They are currently testing redlines but not pushing too hard.

They are putting the onus on the US to respond.” The US is in a delicate situation. It wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the US as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, while also trying to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

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Consistently sleeping less than five hours a night might raise the risk of developing depressive symptoms, according to a new genetic study. Both sleep duration and depression are partly inherited from one generation to the next, according to researchers. The study led by UCL (University College London) researchers and published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, analysed data from people with an average age of 65 and found short sleep was associated with the onset of depressive symptoms.

“Using genetic susceptibility to disease we determined that sleep likely precedes depressive symptoms, rather than the inverse,” said lead author Odessa S. Hamilton. For the study, the researchers used genetic and health data from 7,146 people recruited by the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a nationally representative population study in England.

They found that people with a stronger genetic predisposition to short sleep (less than five hours in a given night) were more likely to develop depressive symptoms over 4-12 years, but that people with a greater genetic predisposition to depression did not have an increased likelihood of short sleep. Short and long sleep durations, along with depression, are major contributors to public health burden that are highly heritable.

“Polygenic scores, indices of an individual’s genetic propensity for a trait, are thought to be key in beginning to understand the nature of sleep duration and depressive symptoms,” said senior author Dr Olesya Ajnakina. The research team also looked at non-genetic associations between depressive symptoms and sleep duration.

They found that people sleeping five hours or less were 2.5 times more likely to develop depressive symptoms, while people with depressive symptoms were a third more likely to suffer from short sleep. They adjusted for a rich selection of factors that could affect the results such as education, wealth, smoking status, physical activity and limiting longstanding illness.

The researchers also found a link between sleeping long and developing depressive symptoms, with participants sleeping longer than nine hours being 1.5 times more likely to develop depressive symptoms than those who sleep an average of seven hours. However, depressive symptoms were not associated with sleeping longer four to 12 years later, which corresponded to the genetic findings.

“Suboptimal sleep and depression increase with age, and with the worldwide phenomenon of population ageing there is a growing need to better understand the mechanism connecting depression and a lack of sleep,” said professor Andrew Steptoe.

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Calling it the most challenging evacuation mission for citizens stranded in Ukraine, Jaishankar said it was inspiring for other countries.

“Had the four Union ministers not gone to countries neighbouring Ukraine, India would not have got the same level of cooperation,” he said in the Parliament on April 6.

Modi was “personally invested in the evacuation”, and that he conducted meetings and supervised the situation in the midst of elections, foreign minister added.

While India abstained in the United Nations on a vote against Russia-Ukraine war, New Delhi sought an independent investigation into reports of civilian killings in Bucha, 37 km north of Kyiv.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, had on April 3 said that Ukrainian troops had found the bodies of women, local officials and children in Bucha. Town mayor Fedoruk said 300 residents had been killed during a month-long occupation by the Russian army.

“If India has chosen a side, it is a side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence. This is our principled stand and has consistently guided our position in international forums and debates, including in the UN,” he said adding that “continues to push for dialogue” and an end to violence. “If India can be of any assistance in this matter, we will be glad to contribute.”

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Indian security agencies are still trying to figure out how the Taliban and other terrorists organisations are trying to sell drugs in the country and who all are involved.

Last week, heroin imported by a Vijaywada-based company from Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port was seized by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) from Gujarat’s Mundra port run by Adani Group. It may be recalled that Gautum Adani is a close friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Indian mainstream pro Modi media, labelled as Godi Media, is particularly silent on the heroin seizure, perhaps the biggest in the world.

Internet is abuzz with conspiracy theories linking the Adanis to the drug market. Memes and social media messages were being exchanged in hordes. The under currents were so strong that the Adani Group had to come out with a press statement.

Adani Clarifies

Media statement on the malicious social media campaign against the Adani Group on the seizure of illegal drugs at Mundra Port. pic.twitter.com/z4gutdzKyK

— Adani Group (@AdaniOnline) September 21, 2021

The Adani Group said that it has no policing authority of ports. “The law empowers the government of India’s competent authorities such as the Customs and the DRI to open, examine and seize unlawful cargo. No port operator across the country can examine a container. Their role is limited to running the port.

“We sincerely hope that this statement will put to rest the motivated, malicious and false propaganda being run on social media against the Adani Group. APSEZ is a port operator providing services to shipping lines, We have no policing authority over the containers or the millions of tonnes of cargo that pass through the terminals in Mundra or any of our ports”, said a spokesperson of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ).”

But Opposition leaders and many were no buying the argument. 

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “The drugs sent from Afghanistan to India via Iran port were found on Mundra port of Gujarat. It is a serious issue for India when you have a look at its price and amount. It is a conspiracy to throw our youth into drug addiction. The money made through the sales of these drugs in India is used to fuel terrorism against our nation. This issue is serious and raises a lot of questions.”

Congress ATTACKS

There are several ports across the Indian coast line, yet drug smugglers only want to use Gujarat. The all important question being, do they consider it safer? #BJPGujaratDrugsModel @INCIndia

“In Modi’s India, 59 grams of Weed > 3000 kgs of Heroin. Govt used ED/CBI/NCB & leaked WhatsApp chats of Bolly Actresses. But even after World’s Biggest Heroin Seizure at Adani’s Mundra Port, there is pin-drop silence. Modi went after Rhea when Pablo Escobars are booming in India.” Tweet by Karnataka Congress member, Srivatsa Y.B.

The Chennai couple – Purna Vaishali and her husband Machavaram Sudhakar – are apparently small time drug peddlers who used their company Aashi Trading company registered in Vijaywada, to import semi-finished talc from Afghanistan. But what came was heroin hidden with talc bags.

They are not the kinds to deal in thousands of crores. The Heroin is estimated to be worth Rs 15-21000 crore worth. According to sources, the merely got Rs 10-12 lakhs for the import and using their names.  Will the country ever know who is behind these drugs. Perhaps, never.

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A galaxy of political leaders, intellectuals, think tanks and human rights activists have expressed their views and concerns over the extraordinarily complex and fluid situation in Afghanistan. The Taliban has won the war against the US ‘superpower’. Is this all or there is more to this horrific saga unfolding before the world. The last word is yet to be written. 

There is consensus that Pakistan created the Taliban, funded the Taliban and supported the Taliban. Also, they have bred the Islamist jihadists in their backyard. No wonder, there are celebrations all over Pakistan. Even all Muslims world over are silently happy at the current outcome. “When history is written, it will be stated that the ISI defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with the help of America,” Hamid Gul, a former ISI chief, said on television in 2014. “Then there will be another sentence. The ISI, with the help of America, defeated America.”

As per experts, the Afghan War consisted of many choices, decisions, policies and actions. But, all failed due to lack of understanding the complexity of Afghan society and affairs. Furthermore, they failed to learn from the lessons of mankind’s wars – armies overstretching beyond their means and ways will ultimately collapse. Most important is the lesson of the Vietnam War – Big Armies and Big Money cannot assure victory in counterinsurgency wars. Let me highlight the oft quoted lesson – “Fools learn from their own lessons; Wise learn from others lessons”. Add to the quote that “Idiots refuse to learn from even their own past lessons.”

President Joe Bidden justified the reasons for the time-bound withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces and blamed the Afghan government and army for the quick Taliban takeover.  And now Biden is threatening Taliban of swift and forceful” response if they attack the US. I am sure no one in the world took it seriously. In a fight, the beaten keeps threatening of revenge. 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated that “We are experiencing a human tragedy for which we share responsibility as the West.”

No longer the Taliban can be coerced into submission by the U.S. The bottomline is that the US lost the wars against “Global Islamist Terrorism” and illegal narcotics trade. 

In sum, there are a whole range of perspectives in public domain over the emerging Afghan scenarios depending on one’s partisan leanings: New Modern and Moderate Taliban to totally radicalized Taliban.  And, it is the present and future course of developments that needs to be reviewed pragmatically and scenarios identified and defined with the past as the prim through which the future portends.

Ipso facto, the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is now part of the new world order.  How the new world order  will traverse a new course is yet to unfold. Israel believes that “American allies in the Middle East, including Israel, would find it difficult to rely on Washington’s assurances and the important lesson for them would be to focus on building their own capability to counter threats.”

Undeniably, the geopolitics of the Middle East will be redefined.   Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and others want the U.S. out of the Middle East.  Iran, besides Pakistan,  has  played a significant role in funding and equipping the Taliban and has directly contributed to this victory. They supported, assisted, funded and armed Jihadists, particularly to run the campaign to kill the US and British forces in Afghanistan.

Russia shares China’s concerns about instability. The former Soviet states in Central Asia are vulnerable to Islamist jihadists.  Just as China will not want the Taliban harboring ethnic Uyghur groups, any support for Islamist movements in its backyard, similarly it would be unacceptable for Moscow.  However, none can rule out the prospects of Russia and China in collusion with Pakistan using Taliban as a weapon against the West particularly the U.S. and also India.   After all, they cannot be expected to squander the golden window of opportunity ajar  to exploit. Already, they have announced its intent to aid rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan. Recognition of the Taliban regime is bound to follow sooner than later.

China is invested in Afghanistan’s stability, but it has no interest in political or military intervention. China too  paid the Taliban to chase and kill rebel leaders.  China eyes for the strategic mineral resources particularly copper, besides consolidation and advancement of its economic interests and BRI. Nonetheless, even China and Russia have their Islamist jihadist challenges to face and overcome.

For sure, India will be kept out by both Pakistan and China, particularly its developing strategic relationship with the U.S. in the QUAD.  Few nations have as much to lose in Afghanistan as India, whose security interests are threatened by both the Taliban’s cooperation with anti-India terrorist groups and China’s growing footprint,

Experts have expressed  quite a few concerns over the emerging situation in Afghanistan.  Some of them apprehend the consolidation and advancement of  a “Jihadist state”.  After all, the Taliban has already released al Qaeda, ISIS and jihadist prisoners in Kabul and other cities. Surely, they would be reinforced  by other foreign jihadists from Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and other nations from across the world.

Meanwhile, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated to the U.S. Congress that “terrorist groups like al Qaeda could reconstitute in Afghanistan sooner than the two years defense officials had previously estimated because of the rapid Taliban takeover of the country. The situation could result in a greater counterterrorism threat, he acknowledged.” Peter Bergen wrote “For the global jihadist movement, the victory of the Taliban will be as significant as ISIS victories were in Iraq and Syria…. Just as they did after those ISIS victories, many thousands of foreign fighters are likely to pour into Afghanistan to join the victorious ‘holy warriors’ and receive military training.”  Susan Glasser seconds Bergen’s warning: “The possibilities, from large-scale human-rights atrocities to a new center for international jihadist terrorism, are bloodcurdling.

Experts in hindsight view peace talks in Doha, Moscow and Istanbul have been used by the Taliban as “Smoke screen”. Under the original agreement with the U.S., the Taliban are committed to prevent terrorist groups from operating in Afghanistan and are expected to evict these groups from Kabul in the next few days. Will the Taliban honor its commitment? They can ill afford to do it as of now. At the same time, the Taliban warned that U.S. troops in Afghanistan must leave by Sept. 11—the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that launched the U.S. into the war. The Taliban’s spokesperson stated that  “we are committed not to attack them, but he stressed they have to leave by that date. It’s not clear what will happen if American forces remain in Afghanistan after Sept. 11.”

Haibatullah Akhundzada is currently the Taliban’s supreme leader with authority over political, religious, and military affairs. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar heads the political office of the Taliban. Sirajuddin Haqqani leads the Haqqani network and oversees financial and military assets across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Mullah Yaqub, son of the late Mullah Omar, founder of the Taliban  is the ‘Chief of Operations’

The Taliban have already engaged former President Hamid Karzai, Tajik leader and former CEO of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah and Hezb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar seeking support in forming the next government of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Ex-Vice President Saleh has shifted his base to Panjshir Valley and has raised the spectre of revolt against the Taliban.

And, the Taliban leaders – Mullah Baradar and Mullah Yakub – have entered Kabul and  trying to  prevent the foreign fighters from finding a base in Kabul. The Taliban has asked the foreign jihadist groups to leave Afghanistan. Will they depart from Afghanistan?

The Taliban have sought to project greater moderation;  but many remain skeptical. One spokesman of the Taliban stated that “they  would not seek retribution against former soldiers and members of the Western-backed government, adding the movement was granting amnesty for former Afghan government soldiers as well as contractors and translators who worked for international forces.” Yet another Taliban spokesman tweeted that fighters had been instructed to protect “life, property and honor”; and “it will stay out of the upscale diplomatic quarter housing the U.S. Embassy complex.” But scenes on the ground in Kabul tell a different story.  Fear and uncertainty prevails in Kabul. Equally worrisome is the likelihood of the Taliban re-imposing the “Strict Sharia Law” going back to “dark, aggressive and violent rule like before” and “nothing different than 2001.  

Currently, the Taliban is facing a major challenge to ensure security of Kabul.  The highly complex relationship between the Pakistan government – the Taliban, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, Al Qaeda and other Jihadists like Islamic State (IS), Jaish e-Mohammed(JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and many others – will continue. In what form it would rollout within Pakistan and spillover into the neighborhood is quite unpredictable as of now. A large number of fighters belonging to the have entered Afghan capital Kabul. They are not under the control of the Taliban.  They may also establish strongholds/bases in Kabul and other cities. Meanwhile, Jihadists across the globe will be emboldened to seek a safe haven in pursuit of Jihadist end objectives.  So, the real challenge in the next few days for the Taliban is going to be to assert their authority and reign in Islamist jihadists in Kabul and other cities.   Can the Taliban ensure Afghanistan remaining  free of Islamist jihadist groups and violence?

Most important, what if the jihadist terrorist elements get control of nuclear material in Pakistan? Also, unrest in the country and drying up of foreign funds is bound to trigger an economic and humanitarian crisis that is likely to leave many Afghans dependent on the narcotics trade for survival. The refugee exodus is bound to flow through Turkey into Europe and the U.S. besides neighboring countries.  In reality, the Taliban is the second name of ISIS or al Qaeda or HAMAS or etc.  The next target will be France, UK, US and even Pakistan and other Muslim countries if they don’t follow strict SHARIA. UK and Germany will soon be repenting their liberal immigration policies with more terror strikes.

Finally, few experts believe that the Taliban do not have the  financial self-sustaining capability.  Taliban has proved such assessments as patently absurd.  In the fiscal year 2020, the Taliban reportedly raked in $1.6 billion with the opium trade.  Also, they can depend on returns from Chinese mining operations and their aid. They may also receive covert financial contributions from private donors and international institutions across the globe – Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and others.

Viewed in the above geo political evolving context and content, India must calibrate its strategic initiatives to counter challenges and exploit opportunities.  After all, the Taliban-Pakistan-Turkey nexus is real. China is also in the game. Even the Indian Muslim Wakf Board member and MP of SP have also hailed the Taliban victory. India must prepare to deter, dissuade and counter the worst case scenario that may engulf J & K and interiors.  Nuanced responses are, therefore, the need of the hour as opposed to emotional and sentimental responses.

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