“I hope we have made Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan proud,” Azizi said. Of that there was no question. The Afghan ambassador, Hamdullah Mohib, said greeting the robotics team at Dulles International Airport was the “proudest moment of my career”. He described the girls as symbols of a new Afghanistan emerging from the shadow of America’s longest war.

The purpose of the video contest was for the world to tell the story of India's soft power, as they saw it. The video challenge aimed to allow individuals from different cultures and backgrounds to express their creativity, understanding and display their artistic prowess on subjects that really define our nation.

Youngster across the country are submitting short videos for the ‘India is’ Global Video Challenge in three categories- India Is... Colorful, India Is... Creative, and India Is... Wherever you are till December 31. “Such a competition helps us understand how the youth perceives our country,” says Navdeep Suri, joint secretary of The Public Diplomacy Division.

In a pioneering initiative to promote India's soft power, the Public Diplomacy Division of the external affairs ministry has launched a global video contest entitled 'India Is' that is open to anyone in the country and around the world.