The saving grace: the Nobel Peace Prize committee snubbed US President Donald Trump—for a woman.
Sanae Takaichi, who considers former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher among her idols, may become Japan’s first female prime minister.
The 64-year-old created history last week by getting elected the first female president of Japan’s predominantly male ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Her ascent is significant because women in Japan still lag far behind their male counterparts in political empowerment—a striking contrast for a nation renowned for its cutting-edge technology, precision engineering, and an almost ritualistic devotion to discipline, punctuality, and culture.
The Asian giant ranks 118th out of 148 countries in this year’s Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum. India stands at 131. Women make up barely 15% of Japan’s lower house—the more powerful of its two parliamentary chambers—and only two of the country’s 47 prefectural governors are women.
However, she must still secure parliamentary approval to become premier later this month—a prospect now clouded by uncertainty after the LDP’s coalition partner of 26 years, Komeito, withdrew its support. The party cited the LDP’s failure to address a political funding scandal that has dogged the ruling group for two years.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito has stated his party would not support Takaichi when parliament votes later this month.
First elected to parliament from her hometown of Nara in 1993, Takaichi has previously held government posts, including minister of economic security, internal affairs, and gender equality.
She is widely regarded as a protégée of Japan’s former India-friendly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, championing his vision of a stronger military and increased fiscal spending to drive growth. One could therefore anticipate continuity in India-Japan relations.
However, ties with China could become more complicated, given its hardline stance, and Takaichi would also have to navigate a delicate and unpredictable relationship with the US.
From a country breaking new ground in women’s political empowerment to one that believes women should neither be seen nor heard…much less be educated and work…
Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is in India on a week-long visit. He’s the first-ever Taliban leader to do so because India and the Taliban were on opposite sides during the group’s last stint in power in Kabul in 1996-2001. At that time, the Taliban was backed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Now the world looks quite different. Pakistan, once the main benefactor of the Taliban, is at odds with them. For decades, Afghanistan has rejected the Durand Line border with Pakistan. Pakistan is also upset due to what it sees as the Taliban’s indifference to its security concerns—Islamabad says Kabul is not doing enough to curb the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which targets the Pakistan army.
In September, the Pakistan army lost 19 soldiers fighting insurgents along the Afghan border. And as Muttaqi arrived in India for talks, explosions were heard in Kabul, suspected to be a Pakistani drone attack.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has announced a slew of measures, including upgrading its mission in Kabul to an embassy, expanding development aid, increasing visas issued to Afghans, and building shelters for refugees forcibly returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran.
India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar even noted the Taliban’s condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April.
Muttaqi, on his part, invited Indian investment in the country, including in the mining sector and promised not to allow any group to threaten others from the Afghan soil, or to use Afghan soil against others.
However reassuring this may be, Pakistan will do its best to disrupt the India-Taliban ties. It will do its best to see that Kabul doesn’t tilt towards New Delhi. Pakistan has viciously targeted Indian interests before, and India would do well to take the Kabul drone strike as a signal of Islamabad’s intent.
It may be good to know the Taliban is reaching out to India, but it remains a regressive group that New Delhi once shunned as a security threat to itself and for curbing women’s rights. New Delhi hasn’t recognized the Taliban government—an indication that it will watch carefully before giving the group legitimacy.
But the irony is that Indian women journalists were barred from attending a press conference addressed by Muttaqi, who is set to visit the Taj Mahal—a monument to love built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Sorry Trump!
Trump has lost out on the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize—something he was hankering after, remember? He was pretty upset that India did not endorse him after his mediation efforts, as he calls it, in the India-Pakistan skirmish in May.
The winner is Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. The Nobel Academy noted that she was chosen for her steadfast support for a peaceful transition to democracy in her country—I don’t think Trump would have quite qualified for those credentials. (On the other hand, he may find it hard to be upset about her winning the award, since the US has been critical of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.)
The good news, however, is that he can begin to rally his supporters to nominate him for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize from later this month. Names can be suggested up to 31 January 2026.
Better luck next year, Trump. Who knows, Palestinians may nominate you themselves if the Gaza ceasefire holds.
Elizabeth Roche is an associate professor at O.P. Jindal Global University.
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