SEEKING a fresh start for Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover on August 15, acting Prime Minister of the country’s caretaker Government Mr.Mullah Hassan Akhund has called for good relations with the international community. Hollowness in the statement is quite obvious given the oppressive ways the Taliban have adopted against the common people since the takeover. Afghanistan has found itself in the grip of primitive rulers yet again after a good period of democracy helped by the presence of troops from United States and NATO and wholehearted support from responsible powers like India. Mr. Akhund’s plea that the current dispensation is safeguarding rights of women and girls and providing them education based on the Islamic laws itself exposes the falsehood of the caretaker Government. The international community is well aware of the tyrannical ways the Taliban have unleashed on women, children and progressive-thinking people in the last three months. In this light, Afghanistan’s desire to have cordial relations with the international community including neighbours and regional countries is akin to living in fool’s paradise. It is a hollow talk that would never cut ice.

 

 

BATTING coach Vikram Rathour’s discomfort in addressing the lean patch being witnessed by stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane and premier batter Cheteshwar Pujara sums up the dilemma the Indian team management is facing while going into the second Test against New Zealand. India will have to take a tough decision while choosing side for the Mumbai Test as regular captain Virat Kohli will have to be accommodated in the playing eleven. The situation has became quite tricky after Shreyas Iyer’s sensational debut in the first Test in Kanpur. The team cannot drop him now after the responsible innings. That makes it imperative for the think-tank to leave out either Pujara or Rahane or one of the openers. Rathour was evasive in his reply over Rahane and Pujara because of their seniority and their past exploits. It is another fact that both have been out of touch for quite a while in Test cricket. Rathour only partly accepted the poor form of the senior players while hinting that the think-tank is divided on the issue of leaving one of them out. That leaves India with a choice of keeping out a promising young opener or Iyer himself. It can be a tricky call though.