Afghanistan has two anniversaries coming up. Friday is Independence Day, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, in which Britain granted Afghanistan self-determination over its foreign affairs. However, most will be more concerned with Monday, which marks a year since the Taliban regained control.
This week also begins with the 75th anniversary of the British withdrawal from the Indian subcontinent, marking the partition of India and Pakistan. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is to address the nation from historic Red Fort in Delhi with the focus likely to be on the troubles in Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
For British schoolchildren, it is all about the present as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday receive the emails and envelopes containing their A-level and vocational exam results. The task of accepting and finding university places through the clearing…