NAVIGATING THE NEW AFGHAN DYNAMIC

As the United States (US) prepares to withdraw from Afghanistan, regional geopolitics is once again in flux. And the stakes for India could not be higher, particularly in the realm of security. This week, we recommend scholar Avinash Paliwal’s My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal. Paliwal has emerged as among the sharpest young voices on India’s in the neighbourhood. The book is based on extensive interviews, archival material, and scholarship, and Paliwal succeeds in uncovering the debates within the Indian establishment on how to approach the situation in Kabul at different points. How do you define interests? Do you intervene? How? When? The book offers historical context to Indian policymakers as they navigate the new challenges in Kabul, with the US retreat, a resurgent Taliban, a weak democratic government and an energised Pakistan.

My Enemy’s Enemy

2017

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