relations

When India and Pakistan meet in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, the match will not just be significant for its on-field cricket action but also the political climate that has shrouded the encounter and the tournament itself.

The South Asian nations share a decades-old history of wars and hostile relations. The most recent encounter came in May 2025, when the nuclear-armed neighbours were engaged in a four-day cross-border conflict.

This 78-year-old bitter history has fuelled the sporting rivalry, which has – at times – led to tournament boycotts, cancelled matches and ground invasions.

Players from both teams have often been involved in heated encounters on the field, but have also publicly shared lighter moments off it.

However, the lingering hostility of the last conflict has made a severe and long-term impact on cricket, which is the most widely followed sport in South Asia.

We look back at the deteriorating cricket relations between India and Pakistan since the May conflict and the on-field events steeped in politics:

September 14 – No handshake row

The controversy began when India’s Suryakumar Yadav opted out of the customary pre-toss captains’ handshake with Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha, prompting fans to wonder if politics were at play.

The doubts were cleared at the end of the match when, after hitting the winning runs, Yadav and his batting partner Shivam Dube walked off the field without approaching the Pakistani captain and team for the traditional post-match handshakes.

Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad, but the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on.

Later, Yadav confirmed that his team had planned to not shake hands with Pakistani players all along, linking it to the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that preceded the May conflict.

“A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit,” the 35-year-old said.

September 17 – Pakistan refuse to take the field against UAE

The fallout of the handshake row carried over into Pakistan’s next group game in the Asia Cup, when they refused to take the field against the UAE in protest against match referee Andy Pycroft.

Pakistan insisted that Pycroft be removed from their fixture as he was the key official in the India match and helped carry out India’s request that the captains not shake hands at the toss.

“Andy Pycroft had barred the captains of India and Pakistan from shaking hands during their match,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.

The Pakistan-UAE match was delayed by an hour as negotiations took place behind closed doors, and Pycroft apologised for the “miscommunication”.

September 21 – Players exchange heated words, make references to conflict

When the teams met for the second time in the Asia Cup, players from both sides were seen exchanging verbal blows in the middle of the pitch.

Pakistan’s Haris Rauf had a go at India’s batter Abhishek Sharma, who later said his match-winning innings of 74 runs was a response to Pakistani players.

“The way they were coming at us without any reason, I didn’t like it at all,” Sharma said after the match.

Rauf was also seen making gestures towards the Indian supporters while fielding on the boundary. He held up his hands to indicate the numbers six and zero, a reference to Pakistan’s claim of downing six Indian jets during the May conflict.

The fast bowler also made gestures indicating an aircraft nosediving into the ground.

Following the match, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) against Rauf and Pakistani batter Sahibzada Farhan, who marked his half-century with a mock gun celebration.

Pakistan, too, lodged a complaint against India’s captain Yadav for using his post-match press comments to mention the Indian missile attacks in Pakistan.

September 28 – India refuse to receive trophy from Pakistani official

The controversial tournament peaked in the final when India, who beat Pakistan by five wickets, refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy because it was presented by Mohsin Naqvi, who is the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president as well as the chairman of the PCB.

Naqvi is also Pakistan’s federal interior minister.

“We have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main [political] leaders of Pakistan,” Devajit Saikia, the chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said.

The final award presentation was delayed by more than an hour due to India’s refusal and Naqvi’s insistence on presenting the trophy. The Indian team celebrated by pretending to hold a trophy.

India’s captain Yadav added it was the team’s decision to refuse the trophy and “no one told us to do it”.

October 5 – Handshake row hits Women’s Cricket World Cup

When India and Pakistan faced off at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 in Sri Lanka, the Indian women’s team followed the precedent set by the men’s side by not offering to shake hands with the opposition.

November 4 – ICC sanctions Indian and Pakistani players for on-field behaviour

Five weeks after the conclusion of the Asia Cup, the ICC said Rauf, Farhan and Yadav had been found guilty of breaching its code of conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Yadav and Rauf were fined 30 percent of their match fees from the September 14 match and received two demerit points each, while Farhan walked away with a warning and one demerit point.

Rauf was found guilty of the same offence in the final and handed the same punishment, which led to a two-match ban on him.

Meanwhile, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who displayed a plane-crashing celebration of his own in the final, was also found guilty and handed one demerit point.

January 25 – Pakistan casts doubt on T20 World Cup participation

Following Bangladesh’s ouster from the T20 World Cup, Pakistan said it would reconsider its own presence at the tournament.

“The prime minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I’ll be able to give you our final decision,” PCB chief Naqvi said.

February 1 – Pakistan announces boycott of India match

In an unprecedented decision at a World Cup, Pakistan’s government said its team would not take the field against India on February 15.

A few days later, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif revealed the move was an act of solidarity with Bangladesh.

February 9 – Pakistan reverses boycott

More than a week later, Pakistan reversed its decision and said its cricket team had been ordered to take the field in the match on Sunday.

Pakistan’s government said it had “reviewed formal requests extended by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, as well as the supporting communications from Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and other member nations”, which sought “a viable solution to recent challenges”, referring to its decision to boycott the game.

Caracas, February 10, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said Venezuela has enjoyed a “very good understanding and relationship” with the Trump White House in the period since the January 3 US attacks.

In an interview with Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt aired on Monday, Rodríguez stated that Caracas and Washington have a “golden opportunity” to build a “win-win” relationship.

“Right now, we have opportunities for mutual respect, for cooperation, to build a win-win situation for both countries, for both peoples,” he said.

Rodríguez confirmed regular contact with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in dialogue “based on mutual respect.” He added that US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is expected in Venezuela in the coming days.

The two governments have fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement in recent weeks, with US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu arriving in Caracas and meeting Venezuelan leaders on February 2.

Rodríguez, the older brother of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, also defended recent legislation  pushed through by the executive and parliament, including an overhaul of Venezuela’s Hydrocarbon Law. On January 29, the National Assembly approved a pro-business reform that lowers taxes and royalties for private corporations while granting them expanded control over operations and sales.

“What we are doing is adapting laws so that it can promote investment especially from the USA,” Rodríguez told Schmitt. “We have an oil industry that needs developing, and if we [the US and Venezuela] can stay on the path of mutual respect and cooperation, we have a bright future ahead of us.”

The parliamentary leader emphasized that the Venezuelan government’s priority is to turn oil revenues into social welfare and promote education and healthcare in a “free market economy.”

The Trump administration’s January 3 military strikes also saw special operations forces kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Rodríguez made one mention of Maduro and Flores in the interview, responding when asked by Schmitt that both should be released “immediately” in accordance with international law.

The Venezuelan president and first lady pleaded not guilty to charges including drug trafficking conspiracy in their January 5 arraignment. The next hearing is scheduled for March 26. 

Despite reiterated accusations of “narcoterrorism,” US officials have never provided evidence tying Maduro and high-ranking Venezuelan officials to drug trafficking activities, while specialized agency reports have found the South American nation to play a marginal role in the global narcotics trade.

In his interview with the pro-Trump news channel, National Assembly President Rodríguez additionally ruled out Venezuela holding elections in the near future.

“There will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilization of the country has to be achieved,” he explained. “In Venezuela we have a very clear calendar for elections established in the Constitution.”

Maduro had begun his third six-year term in January 2025, while a new legislature took office on January 5, 2026, for a five-year period. Regional and municipal officials likewise started new four-year terms in the second half of 2025.

Rodríguez mentioned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statements that, according to the Trump administration, the priority is stability in Venezuela. Rubio has claimed that the White House has a three-phase plan of “stabilization, economic recovery and reconciliation, and transition.”

Donald Trump is expected to meet Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday after a year of exchanging insults and threats over the United States president’s aggressive foreign policies in Latin America, and Bogota’s war on drugs.

Petro’s visit to the White House in Washington, DC, on February 3 comes just one month after the US abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in a lightning armed assault on Caracas.

The Colombian leader will likely be seeking to address diplomatic tensions with the US, which have been in disarray since Trump began his second term last year.

The 65-year-old left-wing Petro has been a vocal critic of Trump’s foreign policies and recent military operations in the Caribbean Sea as well as of Israel’s war on Gaza – a thorny topic for the US president.

Last month, tempers rose again when Trump threatened to target Colombia militarily for allegedly flooding the US with illegal drugs.

Have relations between the two always been frosty?

No. After Colombia gained independence from Spain in 1819, the US was one of the first countries to recognise Colombia’s independence in 1822. It established a diplomatic mission there in 1823.

A year later, the two nations signed a string of treaties focusing on peace, navigation and commerce, according to US government archives.

Since then, the two nations have continued to cooperate on security and economic matters. But these efforts have been interrupted at times, such as during the Cold War, by geopolitics and in relation to Colombia’s war on the drug trade.

Here is a timeline of key issues and events.

Business interests threatened

In 1928, US businesses were operating in Colombia. But their interests were threatened when Colombian employees of America’s United Fruit Company protested, demanding better working conditions. Political parties in Colombia had also begun questioning Washington’s expanding role in Latin America following these protests.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), this was also the period of the “Banana Wars” when Washington was busy toppling regimes in South America to shore up its business interests in the region.

A string of US military interventions took place from 1898 to 1934 as Washington sought to expand its economic interests in the region until President Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the “Good Neighbor Policy”, pledging not to invade or occupy Latin American countries or interfere in their internal affairs.

Emergence of FARC

Security relations between the US and Colombia deepened during the second world war. In 1943, Colombia offered its territory for US air and naval bases while Washington provided training for Colombian soldiers.

According to the CFR, the US boosted military support for Colombia during its deadly conflict with armed rebel groups, which lasted from 1948 until the mid-1950s and killed more than 200,000 people. During this conflict, many independent armed groups emerged in the countryside, and the US implemented a strategy known as Plan Lazo to improve civilian defence networks.

In response, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was formed by rebel leaders and engaged in widespread violence and kidnappings, according to the CFR.

FARC claimed to be inspired by communist values and, in the late 1940s, controlled about 40 percent of the country, according to the CFR. Washington labelled it as a “terrorist” organisation and focused efforts towards destabilising the group.

FARC eventually signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016. In 2021, the group was delisted from Washington’s foreign terrorist organisations’ list.

War on drugs

As FARC was rising in Colombia, the drug trade was also gathering momentum. Groups such as the Medellin Cartel and Cali Cartel emerged in the country, and trafficked marijuana and cocaine to the US on a regular basis.

Faced with a rising number of drug-related deaths, the US government spent more than $10bn on counter-narcotics and security efforts to aid Colombia’s government between 1999 and 2018, according to a US Government Accountability Office report.

Former US presidents, including Bill Clinton and George W Bush, also launched counter-narcotic initiatives to disrupt drug trafficking, destroy coca crops, and support alternative livelihoods for coca farmers, in a bid to quash the cartels.

Trump’s first term as president, beginning in 2017, was marked by renewed counter-narcotic initiatives but he also threatened to decertify Colombia as a cooperative country if it did not take action against its drug cartels.

Tensions between the US and Colombia calmed under former US President Joe Biden, who focused on improving diplomatic ties by designating Colombia as a major non-NATO ally in 2022.

Today, cartels function in a decentralised manner and some have also been designated as terrorist organisations by the US. In December 2025, the Trump administration designated the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest illegal arms group, which is also involved in drug trafficking, as a terrorist organisation.

Trump’s second term

In 2022, Petro was elected as Colombia’s first left-wing president and took up office in the presidential palace with promises to lead Colombia in a more equitable, eco-friendly direction.

But tensions with the US flared again when Trump arrived in the White House for his second term in January 2025.

Since then, Petro has been a vocal critic of Trump’s policies, particularly those relating to Latin America.

Last year, the Trump administration began a series of military strikes on Venezuelan boats, which it alleged were carrying drugs, in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has struck dozens of boats, but has not provided any evidence that any were trafficking drugs. Petro called the aggression an “act of tyranny”.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025, Petro said that “criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the US, even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump”, in relation to the boat strikes.

At the UNGA, Petro also criticised US ally Israel’s war on Gaza and called on US troops to “disobey Trump’s orders” and “obey the order of humanity”.

Washington revoked Petro’s US visa after he spoke at a pro-Palestine march outside the UNGA in New York.

Weeks later, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on the Colombian president, who is set to leave office following a presidential election in May.

In a post on his Truth Social platform in October, Trump said Petro “does nothing” to stop the drug production [in his country], and so the US would no longer offer “payment or subsidies” to Colombia.

Shortly after carrying out the abduction of Venezuela’s Maduro, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that both Venezuela and Colombia were “very sick” and that the government in Bogota was run by “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States”. “And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you,” Trump added.

When asked if he meant a US operation would take place against Colombia, Trump said, “Sounds good to me.”

In response, Petro promised to defend his country, saying that he would “take up arms” for his homeland.

In an interview with Al Jazeera on January 9, however, Petro said his government is seeking to maintain cooperation on combating narcotics with Washington, striking a softer tone following days of escalating rhetoric.

Jan. 29 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emerged from a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday to pronounce that ties between the two countries were back on track, with progress made on trade, tourism and business travel and disrupting illegal migration.

Speaking to reporters after his 80-minute meeting with Xi in the Great Hall of the People, the first by any British leader in eight years, Starmer said it was “very good, productive session with concrete outcomes” that represented a substantive advance.

“It was a real strengthening of the relationship and that’s in the national interest because, of course, there are huge opportunities here in China. A lot of the discussion was about how we open up access for those opportunities, focusing, as I always do, on how this is going to be delivered back in the United Kingdom, how does it benefit people back at home,” he said.

Starmer said headway had been made on Scottish whisky tariffs, visa-free travel to China for Britons and a border security deal on deporting illegal immigrants from Britain, tackling Chinese gangs producing synthetic opioids, and cutting off the flow of Chinese-made marine engines used by people smugglers moving migrants across the English Channel in small boats.

Starmer’s meeting with Xi ran for more than double the period of time scheduled for the talks.

Downing Street later confirmed British citizens would be permitted visits for tourism or business purposes of up to 30 days without a visa.

On issues where they did not see eye to eye, the two sides agreed to “maintain frank and open dialogue,” according to the readout from No. 10.

Starmer insisted he raised human rights at the meeting, including the treatment of the Uyghur minority in China and media mogul and democracy activist Jimmy Lai, a British citizen who has been in prison in Hong Kong since 2020 on sedition and other charges.

He said they had a “respectful discussion” and that his Chinese hosts had listened, with Starmer pointing out that the opportunity to raise “issues we disagree on” was part of the rationale for engagement.

Praising the contributions of past Labour governments to building Sino-British ties, Xi said that China stood ready to move beyond the “twist and turns” to develop a “long-term relationship” with Britain and “consistent, comprehensive, strategic partnership” that would benefit both peoples and the wider world.

However, no major deal or breakthrough came out of the meeting with the only agreement thus far a $20.7 billion investment in China through 2030 by U.K. pharma-giant AstraZeneca to expand its Chinese operation, particularly its work on anti-cancer cell therapy.

The Conservatives’ shadow national security minister, Alicia Kearns, who had urged Starmer to make the release of Lai and the lifting of sanctions on British MPs a condition of his visit, doubled down on her criticism.

“Keir Starmer’s visit tells the Chinese Communist Party they can carry on just as they are,” she wrote on X.