On July 14th, a contingent of more than 400 Indian troops, drawn from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, marched down from the Arc de Triomphe monument during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris. The event occurred in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It undoubtedly heralds a new chapter in Franco-Indian ties, and the participation of Indian troops in the parade indicates a more profound trend that has been steadily growing over the past decade.

During the present global turmoil, the Australian government has announced an aggressive defence policy. The White Paper on defence, ‘Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030,’ envisages a considerable increase in defence expenditure and a significant military acquisition programme for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF).

For India’s military, the Taliban is a threat looming large on the horizon. The perception of the Taliban making inroads into India had increased since December 2008, when Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud vowed to fight alongside the Pakistan army if a conflict broke out between India and Pakistan. The verbal threat has since been underlined by the Taliban’s eastward movement inside Pakistan, from its bases in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to the city of Lahore, close to the Indian border in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

On 27 May 2009, the Indian Air Force inducted one of the biggest state-of-the-art platforms in its fleet capable of giving advance warning of an aerial threat. The platform is also capable of gathering electronics and signal intelligence. This is India’s first Airborne Warning and Control System, commonly known as AWACS. Two more such aerial platforms are in queue to be inducted by 2012. 

For less than one million Bhutanese population, the year 2008 ushered in a new era of governance. The year witnessed the melting down of a century-old monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy. A parliamentary democratic government was formed in the nation based on the universal adult franchise. The Himalayan landlocked country drafted a constitution with provisions of 35 articles and four schedules, with the prior objective to eradicate Bhutan's backwardness and accelerate development.

Among the several congratulatory letters received by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his reelection, the message from French President Nicolas Sarkozy merits attention. While inviting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be the Chief Guest at the forthcoming ceremonies marking the National Day of France on July 14, Sarkozy has praised the Indian democratic system and alluded ‘ to the values of liberty, people's sovereignty and respect of diversity in secularism'. He has also underscored the necessity to expand the existing strategic partnership between the two countries.

The India-Japan partnership is one of the important thrust areas of Japan’s new foreign policy. In the recent past, except for Mori, Koizumi, and Abe, other prime ministers have shown little enthusiasm for improving their relationship with India. However, that trend seems to be changing.

The Government of Bangladesh has recently accepted India’s proposal to set up a Joint Task Force to deal with militancy and other anti-national elements. However, modalities of the Task Force are yet to be decided. As of now, India will be assisting Bangladesh with intelligence inputs only without any direct involvement in any joint military operations to flush out militants taking shelter in Bangladesh.

The Indian Navy was recently briefed on the Aegis ballistic missile defence (BMD) system for ships. The US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin had discussions with Indian authorities and reports suggest that they are ‘open to collaboration’ with the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on integrating the Prithvi Air Defence Shield (PADS) with the Aegis system.

In spite of the seemingly difficult terrain in generating and implementing confidence-building measures in South Asia, all are not doom and gloom. It is thus plausible to make the following conclusions based on existing regional and sub-regional arrangements in South Asia.

India and Pakistan, as the two new de facto nuclear weapon states in the nuclear club since 1998, have embarked upon some meaningful nuclear risk reduction measures through a series of bilateral agreements.