Registan.net

To abuse a cliché, Afghanistan is always at a crossroads: between East and West, North and South. It is the boundary of Central and South Asia, and as the July bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul shows, has the possibility for being the proxy battleground for India and Pakistan in the coming years. Now, given the horrific attacks in Mumbai, it is clear India is going to have a major role to play in future counterterrorism efforts.

So it is with suspiciously good timing that World Politics Review comes out with three wide-ranging essays on “The Asian Triangle,” of the ways in which India will factor into the security of the region. From the lede:

Attempts to address the problem of how to intervene militarily without in turn destabilizing an already fragile Pakistan have led to an emerging consensus regarding a “regional approach,” one that includes the India-Pakistan rivalry as a key to stabilizing the South Asian subcontinent.

But lurking in the shadows of the India-Pakistan rivalry is China, with its complex relations with the former and more steady patronage of the latter. The delicate balance of power that these three nuclear powers maintain complicates American policy, and will ultimately need to be taken into consideration for any lasting approach to stabilizing the broader region.

While seriously stretching the bounds of the region we cover here, these are worth a read. If I see something really worth highlighting later on, I’ll do that.

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