Vivekananda International Foundation organized seven expert groups through webinar on events and topics affecting India’s interests worldwide in the month of September 2021 with the dominant theme being Afghanistan. The expert groups provide layers of understanding and contextualized the present discourse from the past for the future. The diversity of the expertise of each of the members of the expert groups brought rich flavor and knowledge on the topic through their varied professional backgrounds (military, diplomacy and academia). This issue contains reports of the Afghanistan, West Asia, China, Pakistan, Europe, US and Indo-Pacific experts’ group discussions.

The month was kick started by a diverse and informed group to understand the complex developments in Afghanistan and its impact on India. Discussants brainstormed on various issues such as the fragmented structure of the Taliban government, the geopolitical and the geo-economic power play in Afghanistan between the regional players (Pakistan, China and Russia) and the Western powers and options for India to engage in Afghanistan.