Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Defamation Claim

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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has rejected a motion to dismiss a defamation claim filed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) against veteran journalist Terry Milewski and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) for the report “Khalistan: A project of Pakistan.” In a statement to Global Strat View, Milewski said, “This decision is based on complaints by SFJ about things that I did not say in the article or anywhere else. The ruling alleges that I admitted having no evidence for things which, in fact, I never said. I merely “admitted” that I had no evidence for claims I did not make – which is why I did not make them.”

“Even so, the decision faults me for having no proof that Sikhs for Justice is “financially supported, “controlled” and “organizationally connected” to or by Pakistan,” said Milewski. “None of those claims is made in the article, or even implied. I issue an open invitation to anyone to read the article and to tell me, for example, where I suggested that SFJ is funded by Pakistan. It’s obvious that I did not. Nor did I suggest that SFJ is controlled by or organizationally connected to Pakistan.”

Milewski said that the spin that SFJ have placed on this very preliminary hearing, which does not even touch upon the matter of defamation, is entirely false. “SFJ also complained that I portrayed them as a mere puppet of Pakistan in the referendum campaign. In reality, I described SFJ as “the driving force in the campaign for a referendum.” The Macdonald-Laurier Institute and I stand behind the report, which is firmly rooted in evidence,” he said.

Justice William Black’s ruling in this case can be viewed here: Sikhs for Justice v. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, 2021 ONSC 7063 (CanLII). There is no date set for a trial.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently made a formal request to Canada to declare the SFJ a terrorist entity.

Background

“Khalistan: A Project of Pakistan” was written by Milewski and published by MLI in September 2020. SFJ served MLI and Milewski with a Notice of Libel on October 15, 2020. On November 10, 2020, MLI and Milewski responded that they would not be removing any part of the Article and would not issue an apology. The Claim was issued on December 1, 2020 and the Statement of Defence was filed on February 18, 2021.

Religious Minorities Continue to Suffer in Pakistan

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The Pakistani government is content to spout platitudes and holiday greetings to religious minorities, but continues to turn a blind eye to forced conversions and atrocities against them. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted “Wishing all our Hindu community a happy Diwali,” but his government has a dismal record in safeguarding its minority communities, including Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs.

 

Nearly 1,000 girls from religious minorities (most of them minors) are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year, and forcibly married to much older men.

 

As recently reported in Dawn, a  parliamentary committee in Pakistan rejected an anti-forced conversion bill, with Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri saying the “environment is unfavorable” for formulating a law against forced conversions. 

 

Global Strat View reached out to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for comment on forced conversions in Pakistan. In an email response, they said,  “The issue of abduction, forced conversion to Islam, rape, and forced marriage remained an imminent threat for religious minority women and children, particularly from the Hindu and Christian faiths. During 2020, USCIRF documented incidents of forced marriages, more than half involving minors. The government did little to ensure minor girls’ safety and return to their families. Authorities often do not take any action, and in abduction cases that are brought to the courts, officials have claimed that victims willingly converted to Islam. The head of the Parliamentary Committee on Forced Religious Conversions, Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar, claimed that most cases of forced conversion “have some degree of willingness on the part of the girl.” 

 

USCIRF further said that “Pakistani courts systematically failed to protect and provide justice to victims, who are often forced to testify that they converted voluntarily to protect themselves and their families from further harm. In April, Myra Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian schoolgirl, was abducted at gunpoint. Despite Myra telling police she was drugged, raped, and forced to sign papers her abductor later used to allege that she was 19 and had voluntarily married and converted, the court ordered that she be returned to her abductor.”

 

USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report chapter on Pakistan, addresses forced conversion in further detail. On the recommendation of USCIRF, the U.S State Department re-designated Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

Hundreds March to White House in Support of Afghan Women

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Washington, DC – Hundreds of people marched to the White House to appeal to the Biden Administration to act immediately to protect and support Afghan women. They called for action to ensure the safety of women and promote their vision of the future of Afghanistan.

DC resident Sohaila came in solidarity with Afghan women back home. “We have raised our voices several times, and [it] looks like there is no action coming out of anything that we do. Right now I am disappointed, hurt, and feeling helpless that everybody is turning a blind to Afghanistan and its people,” she said. “All these females are going to stay home, and won’t get education and [they] are going to be forced into marriages. Afghanistan is going to go back to the stone age. And I would like for the international community, human rights activists, to hear Afghan women, to hear children, to hear our people, to raise our voices, to help us. ”

Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, and one of the organizers of the march expressed deep concern for the women in Afghanistan, saying that she was “so angry that we are betraying them and abandoning them without any protection of their rights. And we are here to shout together and we say we will not forget them. We will not stop until they are safe, until they are protected.”

Afghan activist Nabila spoke up for Afghan women’s rights, “right where they can hear our voice, and not forget about those poor women who are in Afghanistan.” Adding that the world needs to pay attention and take action to prevent Afghan women from becoming slaves in a male dominated culture, she said, “This is my wish and that’s why I’m here. I want to give my time, and my energy, anything that I have to have those womens’ voices heard through me to the world.”

The key demands of the marchers included prioritizing the evacuation of Afghan women leaders, ensuring the protection of women’s rights inside of Afghanistan, and amplifying the voices of Afghan women who were able to get out.

In a message to Global Strat View, Afghan American Shakella Mujaddidi said that the “efforts displayed by the courageous women of Afghanistan should be joined globally. Thank you to Angelina Jolie and other people who have voiced their opinion. Going forward, the demand for freedom, right to education and equality should be shared by all women throughout the world. It is the hope of the courageous women of Afghanistan that all iconic and influential people join our great cause.”

Pramila Patten, Executive Director a.i of UN Women, called on the Taliban leadership to include women in the upcoming governance entity. In a statement, she noted the public commitments made by the Taliban’s spokesperson to uphold women’s rights “within the framework of Islam”, including women’s right to work, to pursue higher education and to have an active role in society, as well as the right of girls to attend school. “The immediate inclusion of women in the governance structure of the new leadership in Afghanistan will be the ultimate litmus test for the Taliban,” stated Ms. Patten.

She added that Afghan women’s rights activists had fought for their rights and made considerable progress. “These hard-won gains cannot be reversed or rolled back. The inclusion of women in the governance architecture will be the litmus test for the new political leadership of Afghanistan. Urgent action is needed now to ensure the full participation of women in the public and political life of Afghanistan.”

This march was organized by Vital Voices, in partnership with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; Women for Women International; CODEPINK; 1 Billion Rising; Mina’s List; Alliance in Support of the Afghan People; and Equality Now.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw: Afghan Withdrawal Has Serious Global Consequences for Our Allies

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Washington, DC – Over the past two decades, the US has spent over $80 billion in providing training and sophisticated weaponry, equipment, and aircraft to the Afghan military. With the collapse of the Afghan forces, some of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban. Afghan pilots are also reported to have used US military provided aircraft to flee the country. At the Pentagon Press briefing on August 18, Defense Secretary Austin confirmed reports of aircraft that were flown into Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. On the issue of weapons given by the US to Afghanistan, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted at a press briefing at the White House on August 17 that, “certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and obviously we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.”

In an off-camera press briefing earlier on August 18, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that with the reduction of troops to 2,500 by the previous administration, retrograde operations had already commenced. As part of the retrograde process this year, some equipment had been brought back to the US, some was deployed into the Central Command area of responsibility (AOR), some were destroyed, and some transferred to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Kirby added, “We don’t obviously want to see our equipment in the hands of those who would act against our interest or the interest of the Afghan people, and increase violence and insecurity inside Afghanistan.”

For equipment still in Afghanistan not in the hands of ANSF, Kirby said, “There are numerous policy choices that can be made, to including — you know, up to and including destruction, and what I would tell you at this point is those decisions about disposition of that level of equipment in Afghanistan haven’t been made yet.”

In the Pentagon press briefing with Secretary of Defense Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley said regarding destruction of equipment, “we obviously have capabilities, but I’d prefer not to discuss any Operations other than what we’re doing right now in order to get our evacuation out and get that complete. And then there’ll be another time when we can discuss future Operations.”

While the Taliban lacks the training to fly Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft – and cannot maintain and operate them due to unavailability of spare parts – the light arms, armored vehicles, and other gear could enhance their ability to inflict terror. There have been recent reports of arms, ammunition, and military equipment moving from Afghanistan across the border into Pakistan. There is a real concern about sophisticated US weaponry making its way into the hands of terror groups based there such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

In a comment to Global Strat View, Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) – a combat veteran and former Navy Seal – didn’t mince any words about the current situation and its impact on the region. “Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal has serious global consequences for our allies. We’ve abandoned vast amounts of advanced weaponry not just to the Taliban – but to their sponsor, Pakistan. It emboldens and can serve to arm terrorists worldwide, including in Kashmir. This makes critical American allies like India less safe and we need a full accounting of how Joe Biden allowed American weapons to fall into the hands of our adversaries. Both our adversaries and our allies learned this week just how feckless and incompetent the Biden Administration is, and the sacrificing of our weaponry to the Taliban and likely Pakistan is just one of the many failures of this withdrawal.”

Nana Patekar and his NAAM for Farmers, River Revival and Climate

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Jaipur, India – He ruled the screen and became an iconic figure of Indian cinema expressing angst of the society in his own effusive style. National awards, Filmfare and Padma Shri (India’s fourth highest civilian award) remain a crowning glory for his towering presence in every story he attempts to tell on the performing stage, in both Hindi and Marathi . Tracing the origin of intense emotions with impeccable dialogues and comic genius in Nana Patekar, we land on to a veritable story of an ardent boy of 13 years who would walk 10 miles each day to reach school and start earning before touching adulthood. Passion for theatre at an early age was a way to purge and at the same time draw the attention of his father, who would travel to watch him perform taking pride and reassured of his future. Oblivious to the mise en scene, the script of real life was at a toss with sudden loss of father and his business. Shocked but not shattered at life’s beating, Nana walked up to the theatrical semblance of cinema to echo those sentiments which kept boiling in the psyche of the nation, shoving his own but silencing none. Through ‘Prahaar’ he adorned a soldier’s way of life receiving four years of hardcore army training two decades ago. With the highest respect for the military uniform and service, he has acted upon his calling to address some of the most urgent issues within the boundaries of the nation including farmers’ suicides and misery of the soldier’s families martyred or killed on duty.

I had felt the stir when farmers’ suicides in the state of Maharashtra would make headlines, but a solution to the problem was nowhere in sight. The issue has since gone trans state where the distress of small and marginal farmers has been left largely unattended and lost into the din of verbosity. In the year 2015 the headlines flashed in the news rooms with Nana Patekar taking up the cause, and expressing his pain over the loss of farmers’ livelihoods due to severe drought that had hit the state. Natural disasters and climatic emergencies had forced migration leading to health and food crises. He shared his pain about poor treatment to the displaced people who have ever known to live with labour and dignity; and our respective roles in empowering people who face hardships. Without much ado, he picked up the cause and started offering support to the grieving families of farmers through the NAAM Foundation (Hindi acronym literally meaning Name).

As I get into conversation, I learn his simplistic explanation about individual actions at the core of which is personal satisfaction with what you do with your own strengths and sense of power. His philosophical fabric back stitched into discussions with people, officials and volunteers working closely with the farmer community, makes a serious attempt to nail the root of the problem. Sharing his concern about choking natural paths of flowing water as an extension of disruptive human tendencies, he cautions against not prioritizing restoration of water bodies in the villages as they remain central to the human civilization. Every other aspect of our social-economic well-being and self-reliance gets automatically addressed if we care for and conserve our local resources that nature has endowed upon us, he expounds.

NAAM’s role in changing lives and social dynamics is not something Nana is boastful about. His humility and reticence could appear to be unusual but it’s also because of his complete attention to the current crisis of flooding of villages and loss of precious human lives and habitats. He pays personal visits to the flooded areas of the state without media glare and his team works day and night for rescue and relief operations. On one hand is relief, on the other is preparing ground to plug the impending climate crisis through river-revival drives. As I delve into the details of water-centric works my count reaches up to 400 rivers and local water bodies desilted, catchment paths cleared, small dams constructed and plantations along the banks to check soil erosion. Spread across more than 350 villages of Maharashtra, rivers coming back to life and irrigation activities getting normalized with better water management and improved ground water levels is not a work which could possibly go unnoticed. Lockdown period also couldn’t dampen the speed of work as consistency is the value the ground team is trying to inculcate among participating forces.

It is work with complete community participation where the needs are identified by the villagers, and NAAM Foundation mobilizes resources from community, government and corporations. The team closely working with the families who underwent traumatic experiences of suicide committed by the bread earner, shared that improved financial conditions, young generation opting for farming and dairy as a remunerative activity; and reversal in the trend of migration to cities in search of work is boosting the village economy. When people become part of such transformation, collective consciousness for self-awareness is a bigger gain.

Climate change is on top of the agenda for the United States and India is seen as key contributor in achieving Climate neutrality by 2050. India is not ready to buy the idea of net-zero easily seeing its own development pace and priorities. The underlying meaning of cooperative partnership between the two countries could, however, be further emphasized by bringing to light the relationship between large scale water conservation efforts and thereby reduction in energy consumption. Measuring the work of community-based organizations from the yardstick of reduction in climate footprints and attaining sustainability could be an added perspective to the water-oriented works with an engaged grassroots population, who contribute least to the climate crisis but get most of the burden through adaptation and mitigation efforts imposed on it. India is already leading from the front with state level climate action plans and policies. Rivers, fields and soils are climate sinks coming alive through consistent community driven works taken up with a vision. This must find more meaning in the larger climate discourse having potential to pull curtain from enigmatic and tech heavy climate dialogues which go beyond the common man’s intellect to be felt and acted upon.

If the Shakespearean phrase of ‘violent delights have violent ends’ be seen as prophetic for our world where flooding and vanishing water both play havoc with lives, we cannot go on a consumerist-capitalist spree as before. We cannot live in harmony if human societies are at loggerheads with nature. Climate emergencies can only be tackled with the interplay of community initiatives, policy support and informed choices. Just as Nana’s NAAM Foundation is doing with the firm belief in the power of each one, we need to wake up from the slumber and shake up our immediate world.

State Department Announces New Resettlement Program for Afghans

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Washington, DC – In remarks to the press today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new resettlement program for Afghans who assisted the United States but who do not qualify for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) under Operation Allies Refuge. The Priority-2, or P-2, designation, grants access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for many of these Afghans and their family members.

“We take our responsibility to our Afghan partners deeply seriously, and we know the American people do as well. We have a long history in the United States of welcoming refugees into our country. And helping them resettle into new homes and new communities is the work of a huge network of state and local governments, NGOs, faith-based groups, advocacy groups, tens of thousands of volunteers,” said Blinken.

Outlining the process earlier today, a senior state department official said that individuals cannot apply directly, but have to be referred by their employer through WRAPSNET.org. Unlike the SIV process, applicants have to get themselves out of Afghanistan at their own expense before processing of their caseload can even begin, and the processing can take from 12-14 months.

Those eligible for the P-2 program include:

-Afghans who do not meet the minimum time-in-service for a SIV but who work or worked as employees of contractors,[1] locally-employed staff, interpreters/translators for the U.S. Government, United States Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), or Resolute Support;

-Afghans who work or worked for a U.S. government-funded program or project in Afghanistan supported through a U.S. government grant or cooperative agreement;

-Afghans who are or were employed in Afghanistan by a U.S.-based media organization or non-governmental organization.

Meanwhile, two groups of special immigrant visa applicants relocated under Operation Allies Refuge – around 400 people – have arrived at Fort Lee, Virginia.

With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation continues to deteriorate. Clashes between the Afghan government forces and the Pakistan-backed Taliban outside Herat city on Friday, forced residents to flee, and the UN’s main compound in Herat was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. Kandahar airport also came under Taliban rocket attack.

The deteriorating security situation post the US announcement of withdrawal of most of its contingent has forced India, which is the largest regional donor to Afghanistan, to evacuate 50 diplomats and staff members from its consulate in Kandahar. While the US may evacuate some of the Afghans who supported its mission, the situation is expected to be grim for those remaining, especially women and minorities.

Local Music During the Pandemic

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Washington, DC -The inability of crowds to gather safely because of COVID-19 put the world of live music in a coma almost overnight. Musicians often receive the bulk of their income from live shows. Production staff, who are the foundation and the glue of many events, depend on those performances and events for their livelihood.

Now that restrictions are being lifted in many states throughout the United States, tour buses and tractor trailers can begin to line the loading docks and alleyways of concert halls, dive bars and arenas. As vaccination rates rise and concert goers flock to venues, an often less recognized yet essential class of industry professionals are emerging from the trenches: Local working musicians.

What does that mean? Isn’t any musician who gets paid technically working? The term working musician can be applied in many contexts. In this case it is the tried-and-true local performers, the gigging veterans, who fill the bars and restaurants with original compositions as well as songs people know and love. Live music is not only a vital part of defining the culture in a community but is essential to maintaining a vibrant nightlife that supports the local economy. “Music is the cornerstone of what we do [and] something we can’t live without,” says Rohry Flood, co-owner of Cult Classic Brewing, Kent Island Maryland. Once a grocery store, it is now a successful brewery, bar and restaurant that houses a professional concert venue.

Danah Koch is a Maryland-based artist on the front lines, playing the dock bars and main street taverns that line the eastern and western shores of the state. “People want to get back to life” she says, describing the general atmosphere. With turnout often reaching pre-covid levels, many patrons are returning with not only enthusiasm but a new sense of existential appreciation.

In the midst of hope and positivity, causes for concern are not being ignored. Ms. Koch, who had contracted COVID-19 and is now vaccinated, worries about a “false sense of security” among people. Conscious of the potential for bringing the virus home to family and friends, performing mainly outdoors is one way she mitigates the risk.

Also concerned about safety, P.J. Thomas, a musician based in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and Vice President of the Annapolis Musicians Fund for Musicians (AMFM), recalls a time when she wouldn’t hesitate to closely mingle with crowds and have impromptu duets with strangers. Thomas now emphasizes, “I’m always very careful.” Cautious, but not a cynic she trusts that “people are coming at this from a good place.” The AMFM has paid out around $200,000 in relief to local performing artists during the pandemic.

Despite legitimate causes for concern, local musicians and venue owners share stoic-like perseverance, laced with hope, which sets an inspiring tone for an uncertain future. “If we can survive this last round, we can survive anything,” says Flood with a thoughtful laugh. “Eternally optimistic” is how P.J. Thomas describes herself, and speaks with reverence about “love for one another among musicians.”

Looking out for each other and never hesitating to lend one another a hand is the hallmark of a successful music scene. The drive and passion artists have to perform is cyclical with the audience’s desire to experience it. In this sense, live performances are not just entertainment but enhance quality of life, a cycle that not even a global pandemic can break.

Secretary Blinken Shows Support for Religious Freedom, Tibet

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New Delhi – In his first visit to India as Secretary of State, Antony Blinken kicked off a packed schedule of meetings on Wednesday July 28, with a show of support to the Tibetan cause. Secretary Blinken met with Ngodup Dongchung, a representative of the Dalai Lama and member of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan government in exile).

Blinken’s first engagement was a Civil Society Roundtable with the theme “Advancing Equitable, Inclusive, and Sustainable Growth and Development.” In his opening remarks at the Roundtable, Blinken stressed upon the shared values and beliefs of the Indian and American people, including human dignity, equality of opportunity, the rule of law, and freedom of religion and belief. “We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government and be treated with respect no matter who they are,” said Blinken.

Blinken commented that both democracies are works in progress. “As friends, we talk about that, because doing the hard work of strengthening democracy and making our ideals real is often challenging. We know that firsthand in the United States, where we aspire to be, in the words of our founders, a more perfect union. That’s an acknowledgement from day one of our country that in a sense we will always fall short of the mark, but that the way to make progress is by constantly trying to achieve those ideals. As I said before, sometimes that process is painful, sometimes it’s ugly, but the strength of democracy is to embrace it,” added Blinken.

Participants in the discussion included Geshe Dorji Damdul, the Delhi-based Director of Tibet House; constitutional lawyer Menaka Guruswamy; Inter-Faith foundation founder Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed; and representatives of the Baha’i, Sikh and Christian communities among others.

Washington Update: Child Soldiers in Tigray

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Child soldiers in Tigray.
Reports from Tigray show that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are committing crimes against humanity, including by recruiting child soldiers in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The international community must condemn the TPLF’s refusal to abide by the ceasefire declared by the government of Ethiopia, and apply pressure for it to demobilize children and halt violent and provocative activities.

The Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) is a United States federal statute signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 23, 2008, as part of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. The law criminalizes leading a military force which recruits child soldiers.

In 2008 House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security hearing Committee on the Judiciary approved the following:

“There is a clear legal prohibition on recruiting and using child soldiers. Over 110 countries, including the United States, have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Rights of the Child, which prohibits recruitment and use of child soldiers under the age of 18. But individual recruiters continue to operate with impunity, violating their countries’ policies and treaty obligations”.

The TPLF’s actions threaten to create a humanitarian disaster on a scale that exceeds the crisis in Syria, and to destabilize Ethiopia and the entire region.The U.S. and the international community must stop averting their eyes from the unfolding disaster and act quickly to help avoid a preventable catastrophe.

GERD dam second filling.
The bad news from Tigray is counterbalanced by news of the second filling of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. Hydroelectric plants powered by the GERD are set to start generating power in the coming months. The GERD, the largest hydro power project in Africa, is the key to Ethiopia’s future prosperity and source of pride and solidarity for the entire nation.

Although 85% of the water in the Nile originates in Ethiopia, in the Blue Nile, the Ethiopian people derive very little benefit from the river. The GERD will meet Ethiopia’s need for power. Today, 83% of Ethiopians lack access to electricity; 94% rely on wood for daily cooking and heating. This is an unacceptable situation, especially since Ethiopia possesses abundant water resources and hydropower potential, second only to the Democratic Republic of Congo in all of Africa. Only 3% of this potential has been developed

Secretary of State Blinken Travels to India

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Washington, DC – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked on his first visit to India on Monday July 26. He will be meeting with Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Doval.

In a briefing on Secretary Blinken’s travel to India, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson said, “we expect the discussions to focus on ways to further deepen our bilateral partnership, which is very broad in scope, as well as increased convergence on regional and global issues.” Issues to be discussed during this visit include cooperation on COVID-19 response efforts, Indo-Pacific engagement, shared regional security interests, shared democratic values, and addressing the climate crisis. This visit also will discuss a potential Quad Summit at the Head of State level toward September/October 2021. Although some media reports have tried to divert the focus only on human rights issues, this visit goes deeper than that and has substantive issues of great importance for both countries and the world.

Afghanistan
On July 16, the US had announced a US-Afghanistan-Uzebekistan-Pakistan’ Quad diplomatic platform “focused on enhancing regional connectivity”. Commenting on “efforts to support a just and durable peace in Afghanistan,” in the briefing, Thompson said, “ All of Afghanistan’s neighbors and countries in the region have an interest in a peaceful, secure, and stable Afghanistan, which can only be accomplished through a negotiated political settlement that brings an end to 40 years of conflict. India, of course, is a critical partner in the region, and we welcome India’s shared commitment to peace and supporting economic development in Afghanistan.”

COVID-19
India has been hit hard with the second wave of the pandemic. Per the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 31,411,262 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India with 420,967 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 19 July 2021, a total of 406,481,493 vaccine doses have been administered.

On working with India to overcome the pandemic, Thompson said, “We’re confident that through our combined efforts, including through the Quad vaccine partnership and the G7-plus vaccine commitment, we will be able to share vaccines – safe and effective vaccines – to the Indo-Pacific region and the world. We will continue to seek ways in which we can work together to save lives around the world, and bring an end to the global pandemic.”

Climate Crisis
The bilateral meetings will focus on climate change, however the US has been silent on the International Solar Alliance (ISA) promoted by India to increase the use of solar energy to fight climate change. Speaking on the “complementary strengths” of India and the US in tackling the climate crisis, Thompson mentioned the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership which was launched in April this year. He added that, “The partnership will reinforce our collective efforts to achieve both the goals of the Paris Agreement and our own ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy.”

“We look forward to further strengthening our ties with India to ensure a safer and more secure world,” added Thompson. “To that end, the Secretary and Defense Secretary Austin look forward to hosting their Indian counterparts for the annual U.S.-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue later this year.”

Secretary Blinken will have a full day of meetings in New Delhi on Wednesday July 28, before he leaves for Kuwait to meet with senior Kuwaiti leadership.