The top civil and military leadership met at GHQ in the absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to review Afghan policy and challenges to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Observers considered it an "extraordinary" meeting convened by CoAS General Raheel Sharif. Although media reports said the meeting was prompted by specific concerns, it is not clear what these were. Nor did any details emerge after the conclave, except for a ritual bland statement by ISPR reiterating that hostile foreign intelligence agencies (meaning RAW and the Afghan NDS) and their "facilitators" would not be allowed to foment trouble, "core national interests" would be protected, and any negative outside influence would be countered. Make of that what you will. Significantly, neither National Security Advisor General Nasir Janjua (Retd) nor Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar attended, leading to speculation that the meeting was focused on matters other than India and internal security. The meeting did reaffirm Pakistan's commitment to Afghan peace but emphasised border management to control cross-border movement, condemned the May 21 drone strike that took out Taliban leader Mullah Mansour as a clear violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and which affected Pakistan-US mutual trust and undermined the peace process. Nevertheless, the meeting reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to the Quadrilateral process. The trilateral transit agreement amongst Iran, India and Afghanistan was perceived by the meeting as a security threat. There is little doubt that India has pushed Chabahar port development to bypass Pakistan and replace its influence in these countries with New Delhi's. In fact Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been on a diplomatic offensive lately, visiting and displaying a nifty ability to wean Pakistan's friends like Afghanistan, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar out of Islamabad's orbit.

The crowning achievement of Modi's diplomatic offensive is the growing ties between India and the US. The Indian prime minister is in Washington currently, where he has succeeded in obtaining US President Barack Obama's support for India's efforts to join the