Pranay Kotasthane Quoted in The Telegraph

Pranay Kotasthane has been quoted in an article with The Telegraph which addresses the recent endeavours by Russia, Pakistan, and China to lift the UN sanctions against select Taliban leaders.

India has viewed the Taliban as a Pakistan-backed militancy and has stressed that any distinction between "good" and "bad" sections of the group comprises of risks for the whole region’s stability. Russia, India’s all-weathered friend, has always backed India’s view on the Taliban, as evident from the collaborative efforts through the 1990s to prop up the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to counter the Taliban.

The recent trilateral meeting in Moscow decided to seek flexible approaches which include lifting of UN sanctions in an effort to broker peace with the group in Afghanistan.

"This is a setback for India and should concern India," Pranay Kotasthane, head of the geo-strategy programme at the Bangalore-based think tank, the Takshashila Institution, told The Telegraph. "The Russian perspective is that they will be willing to do whatever it takes to contain the IS. And they believe that Pakistan is critical for that."

Click here to read the full article.