As was expected, the Pakistan-Afghanistan (read Taliban) peace talks have failed, and will keep failing in future because the Durand Line (a British mischief) divides Pashtuns. Afghans never recognised the Durand Line but Pakistan has fenced it and established posts to defend it.
Hence, the clashes are continuing. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will likely be used again to strike locations inside Afghanistan, having earlier targeted Kabul plus Spin Boldak and Paktika provinces. And, Pakistan will keep conducting airstrikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) against the TTP, as well as in Balochistan against Baloch fighters.
Pakistan’s naval chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf recently visited forward posts along Sir Creek (96-km tidal estuary in Rann of Kutch straddling the India-Pakistan border) and proclaimed defending every inch of Pakistan’s “maritime frontier from Sir Creek to Jiwani”. Pakistan has inducted three Griffon 2400TD hovercraft for amphibious operations in the Sir Creek area. Ashraf recently also visited the Pentagon in Washington, USA.
US President Donald Trump has already hosted Pakistan Army Chief, FM Asim Munir thrice in the White House, as well as met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif twice, in the recent past.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan (read Taliban) peace talks have failed, and will keep failing in future because the Durand Line (a British mischief) divides Pashtuns. Afghans never recognised the Durand Line but Pakistan has fenced it and established posts to defend it
Pakistan has signed a crypto currency deal with the US that benefits Trump’s family, in addition to offering rare earth minerals to the US and has already sent a shipload of minerals to America. Pakistan is also offering the port of Pasni for use by the US.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Defence Agreement (SPDA) was signed recently. Pakistan now says it has allowed a foreign country to undertake drone strikes from its soil. This could be the US, Israel or both to target Iran (and Taliban?).
Pakistan is reportedly not sending any troops to Gaza under an agreement with Mossad and the CIA to fight Hamas, as reported by media. Pakistan will have no compunctions about bombing Afghanistan, KPK and Balochistan to kill as many Afghans, plus fighters of the TTP and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on its own soil with blessings of the US.
China will be equally interested to eliminate the BLA. Ironically, India lost the opportunity when Balochis were pleading support for liberation from Pakistan, the US had not said India was using Balochis as proxy, and the US administration was friendlier than the present one.
In fact, India has done virtually nothing to support an independent Sindh and very little to support Baloch independence, primarily because of the fear of China. Besides, the political hierarchy feels Balochis can’t achieve much since their numbers are small.
In Bangladesh, when Pakistan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza met Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at Dhaka recently, Yunus gifted Mirza an officially sponsored book that features on its cover a map of Bangladesh incorporating parts of northeast India; the book glorifies the regime change in Bangladesh and its hardcore Islamisation. Yunus had earlier described India’s northeast landlocked, suggesting Bangladesh is the sole guardian of the ocean.
Mirza (accompanied by Pakistan’s Brigadier Muhammad Rashid Khan, Commodore Khan Muhammad Asif), who was scheduled to visit areas on the India-Bangladesh border including Chicken Neck, said, “Our two countries will support each other”, adding that a two-way shipping route between Karachi and Chittagong has already begun operations, while a Dhaka-Karachi air route is expected to open within months. Earlier Lt Gen Tabassum Habib, Pakistan’s DG of the Joint Staff Headquarters had visited Bangladesh.
Yunus, who was brought to power through a CIA-orchestrated regime change in Bangladesh, remains loyal to the US and China. Trump wants a naval base in Bangladesh (St Martin’s Island) though the US is terming it as an initiative, under the “Quad Ports” programme to counterbalance China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Defence Agreement (SPDA) was signed recently. Pakistan now says it has allowed a foreign country to undertake drone strikes from its soil. This could be the US, Israel, or both to target Iran (and Taliban?)
Bangladesh is offering China the WWII-era Lalmonirhat Air Base, proximate to the Siliguri Corridor; giving the contract for reactivation to a Pakistani company, for eventual use by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Reactivation of the WWII Thakurgaon airstrip is also planned similarly. In fact, Dhaka has become a hub of CIA and ISI activity.
In a recent video, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT’s) Abdul Rehman Makki, wanted for his involvement in 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, addressing radicals said, “If for the last 30 years in Islamabad there wouldn’t have been the government of transgenders and of these debtors, thieves, we would’ve had made Hyderabad, Junagadh and Delhi as our brides…. We will break Hindustan and make Pakistan complete”.
Indian media had been reporting the death of Makki based on ISI propaganda that he was shot dead by unknown gunmen and fake videos of his funeral. Notably, our intelligence for launching Operation Sindoor, had no idea, most terrorist hideouts had been vacated, American nukes are stored in areas of Kirana Hills and Nur Khan, Nur Khan Air Base is under US control.
We lost six fighter jets (including one Rafale) on the first night for lack of intelligence on how Pakistan could hit our fighter jets, and especially since our pilots lacked encrypted communications.
The Taliban and Pakistan have been calling for Ghazwa-e-Hind (GEH) in the past, saying Kandahar Se Le Ke Dilli Tak Islam Ka Parcham Lehraega. We must also acknowledge that in the present context, Al Qaeda and Taliban are in mutual support, plus ISIS/ISKP and many other terrorist organisations (particularly the Haqqani Network) are operating from Afghanistan.
India has yet to develop the art of using terrorist organisations as proxies. In Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has announced formation of its women’s wing called ‘Jamaat-ul-Mominaat’.
Pakistan is reportedly not sending any troops to Gaza under an agreement with Mossad and the CIA to fight Hamas, as reported by media. Pakistan will have no compunctions about bombing Afghanistan, KPK and Balochistan to kill as many Afghans, plus fighters of the TTP and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on its own soil with blessings of the US
The calls for GEH are now being openly raised in Bangladesh, where distributions of weapons to the radical Islamists has been completed. An audio message in circulation says, “The Conflict between Hindus and Muslims is about to happen, whether ISKCON is banned or not”. The message invites foreign jihadis to join Bangladesh for GEH. A mass protest by students from Rangpur condemned India’s water injustice and demanded Teesta Masterplan’s implementation; timing of the protest is significant. The 9th Bangladesh–Pakistan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting is underway in Dhaka, after 20 years.
India’s joint military combat exercise ‘Trishul’ is being conducted from October 30 to November 10 in the Western Sector, wherein all three services (Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy) will test and improve their combat skills.
It will be one of the biggest joint operational exercises by the Indian Armed Forces in recent years. This would be messaging Pakistan which is good. But concurrently, when there are continuous intelligence reports of some 120 heavily armed terrorists in the launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K waiting to cross into India, why are we not hitting these launchpads? Are we scared of Pakistani reaction, the US, China or all three? Doesn’t this show the lack of spine of India’s political hierarchy?
In 2017, the then Air Chief ACM BS Dhanoa had said that the day China starts building hardened aircraft shelters in their airfields in Tibet, it would mean they would be preparing for a war with us. This is what China is doing.
China is also building an air defence complex near Pangong Tso. India did the strategic blunder of vacating the Kailash Range on China’s demand and is now abiding with Beijing’s diktat to keep the border issue separate from developing bilateral relations
It has already built 36 hardened aircraft shelters at its Lhunze airbase in Tibet near the Arunachal Pradesh border – 40 km from the McMahon Line and some 107-km from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
Dhanoa recently told the media, “The construction of 36 new hardened aircraft shelters at Lunghe suggests that China will deploy its technical fighter jets and attack helicopters there in the future. Ammunition and fuel may already be stored in underground tunnels.”
China is also building a similar air defence complex near Pangong Tso. India did the strategic blunder of vacating the Kailash Range on China’s demand and is now abiding with Beijing’s diktat to keep the border issue separate from developing bilateral relations.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says we must be prepared for a warlike situation “any time”. He has also been saying that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) will fall automatically in our lap.
Others are talking about capturing PoK, but does the government have any plan to even administer it, in such an eventuality?
There are talks about capturing PoK, but does the government have any plan to even administer it, in such an eventuality? There is also talk about resuming Operation Sindoor or launching Operation Sindoor 2.0. But realistically, we should better be prepared for a 3.5 front sprung on us with the blessings of China, the US or both, based on their individual interests coupled with Pakistan and Bangladesh’s plans
There is also talk about resuming Operation Sindoor or launching Operation Sindoor 2.0. But realistically, we should better be prepared for a 3.5 front sprung on us with the blessings of China, the US or both, based on their individual interests, coupled with Pakistan and Bangladesh’s plans.
Trump’s war is not about supply chains alone, and his calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “good friend” and recently “good looking” doesn’t reflect his devious plans even if an Indo-US trade deal is signed.
The spin-doctors are busy with yarns that India is going to occupy the Bagram Air base in Afghanistan. One veteran yes-man claims this confidentially, while another paid stooge using Deepfake says the Indian Air Force (IAF) is already using the Bagram base.
This is pure propaganda to fool gullible public, because India is out from the ‘Ayni’ and ‘Farkhor’ Air Bases in Tajikistan that were jointly operated by the IAF and the Tajik Air Force, giving India a strategic advantage both in Central Asia and Afghanistan; this is yet another foreign policy failure. With the US unable to re-occupy the Bagram Air Base, there is no way India can occupy it.
The author is an Indian Army veteran. The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
