2025 ends in setbacks for Indian foreign policy: report

Leading Indian newspaper The Hindu has described 2025 as a year of failures and setbacks for India’s foreign policy.

The paper said India’s foreign policy in 2025 fell short of expectations, calling it a year of broken promises.

According to the report, symbolic diplomacy, personal relationships and narrative-building failed to substitute for real economic, military and diplomatic power.

The Hindu noted that India made commitments to itself and to its partners without possessing the influence or capacity required to deliver on them.

The report stated that 2025 proved to be one of the most challenging years for India this century, marked by 25 per cent tariffs, additional restrictions on Russian oil, and curbs on H-1B visas.

Compared with 2017, India’s role in the 2025 US National Security Strategy has been reduced to a more limited position.

According to the report, despite several high-level meetings with China and Russia, no tangible security progress was achieved along the Line of Actual Control.

Under US pressure, India was also forced to step back from its stance on Russian oil.

The Hindu described the Pahalgam false flag operation as a serious security failure and acknowledged that India’s military actions following the Pahalgam attack failed to secure international diplomatic support.

The newspaper added that India’s silence over aircraft losses after the operation damaged its credibility, while the announcement of a mutual defence agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan dealt an additional blow.

Indian analysts are now increasingly describing Pakistan’s leadership as “hardline and organisationally capable”, while relations between India and Bangladesh have reached their most strained level to date.

The report concluded that India’s tendency to blame others remains the biggest obstacle to reform and the development of a realistic foreign policy.