Daniel S. Markey, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (C.F.R.) and the author of ‘No Exit from Pakistan: America's Tortured Relationship with Islamabad’ held an intense and wide ranging interaction with the VIF faculty on19 Nov 2014.

A Brief Background to the Evolution of ISIS: Today, one of the most serious threats that have engulfed a large portion of the Middle East is the emergence of the Sunni Muslim extremist group, infamously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). After capturing a sizeable territory in Iraq and Syria, the group changed its name to Islamic State (IS).

On October 22, 2014 Members of VIF faculty interacted with an Israeli delegation led by Dr. Joseph Cohen. He was accompanied by Israel’s ambassador to India H.E. Daniel Carmon. Dr. Cohen briefed the VIF faculty on the talks he had with India’s NSA Mr. Ajit Doval and the ascending trajectory of Indo-Israel relations. He mentioned that both India and Israel share common perceptions on the questions of terrorism and the nature of threat arising there from. He gave out in brief the Israeli perspective on the situation in West Asia and virulence of ISIS threat.

The VIF hosted Mr. Hitoshi Tanaka, Japan’s former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and currently Chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan's Research Institute, on 17 Oct 2014, for an interaction on the Japanese perception of strategic developments in Asia-Pacific including bilateral relations between India and Japan. He was accompanied by Japan’s Ambassador to India H.E. Mr.Takeshi Yagi. The VIF faculty who interacted with Mr Hitoshi Tanaka included, Lt Gen (Retd) Ravi Sawhney, Admiral (Retd) Raman Puri, and a group of former ambassadors – Mr. Satish Chandra, Mr.