Secretary Blinken to meet PM Modi, Afghanistan, Quad and Indo-Pacific on agenda

By: TP News Date: 7/22/2021 1:40:46 PM

New Delhi :

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in New Delhi on July 27-28 with Af-Pak, Indo-Pacific and vaccines on top of the agenda. All official meeting are scheduled on July 28.

The US diplomacy is in action from this week with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Japan and scheduled to visit China on Sunday. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will be in Singapore, Vietnam and Philippines next week with Chinese aggression in South China Sea becoming a major election issue in Manila.

While the Modi government is tight-lipped about Secretary Blinken's visit, Afghanistan will be on top of the agenda with the Sunni Pashtun Islamists Taliban out to seize Kabul by force with tacit support of Pakistani deep state. While Pakistan and Taliban would like the world to believe that victory is imminent, US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Mike Milley has openly said that the end game is still to be written in Afghanistan with all the provincial capitals under control of the ruling Afghan government. He, however, admitted that half of the 419 district centres were under Taliban control.