Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discusses energy security in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan’s Iran mediation efforts are on hold after a second round of talks failed to materialize, and Afghanistan and Pakistan accuse each other of renewed cross-border violence.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discusses energy security in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan’s Iran mediation efforts are on hold after a second round of talks failed to materialize, and Afghanistan and Pakistan accuse each other of renewed cross-border violence.

New Delhi and Abu Dhabi Talk Energy

Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval traveled to Abu Dhabi to meet with Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan over the weekend. The trip was New Delhi’s latest high-level engagement with the Gulf countries amid the Iran war, and it may hint at significant steps that India is taking on energy security.

Like many of its neighbors in South Asia, India has been hit hard by recent energy shocks. The demands of a large and growing population, heavy dependence on oil and gas imports from the Middle East, and insufficient supplies at home have made India highly vulnerable to the Iran war’s ripple effects.

The starkest manifestation of India’s worsening energy security is its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) crisis: More than 330 million Indian households depend on LPG for cooking, and shortages have prompted New Delhi to direct local producers to reduce supplies for businesses to ensure household LPG needs are met. (The United Arab Emirates is India’s top LPG supplier.)

India, unlike even more vulnerable neighbors such as Bangladesh, has options to cushion the blow. It still produces coal—its most consumed commercial fuel—at a robust rate; in December, India decided to export coal for the first time. The government is also seizing on the LPG crisis to address gaps in pipeline infrastructure to hasten a shift toward greater use of piped natural gas.

Still, the sheer scale of India’s energy demand—especially with temperatures starting to soar in recent weeks—amplifies how much more the country must do to address its needs against the backdrop of continued volatilities in global energy markets. Over the weekend, India’s peak power demand rose to 256 gigawatts, a new record.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long had a plan to stabilize the country’s energy security, which entails making renewable fuels a substantive part of the energy mix. There has already been considerable success: India has ramped up........

© Foreign Policy