Pathankot terror attack: Modi & co don't know who their real friends are
Foreign policy is not a picnic, a press meet at the family wedding of a PM Nawaz Sharif, who is a hostage of his army this time as before. The US who created the "good terrorists" and "bad terrorists" in its widespread form in Afghanistan to Syria and Iraq, has repeatedly used this convenient distinction whenever Pakistan-based terrorists have attacked India.
In the 26/11 attacks though three US Jews were killed, the US did not take punitive action against the Pakistani army. They have done comparatively little when terrorist attacks from Pakistan occurred. Imagine what the US would done if terrorists from Mexico or Canada had attacked and killed dozens of US citizens.
However, the Pakistani army is special because it would play a major role in protecting Afghanistan where the infiltration of the Taliban and ISIS has markedly increased, and the US wants to minimise the casualties of its own ground troops, which would be political dynamite in a presidential election year.
It is important to note that the US and its allies have not volunteered any ground troops to fight against the ISIS, al Qaeda and al Nusra in Iraq-Syria. The New York Times has said that the mother of ISIS is Iraq and the father is Saudi Arabia.
But the use of "good terrorists" was started in Afghanistan, when the Taliban was trained and armed by the US, to defeat the Soviet-backed secular Afghan government. Tajik warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud, and Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostam joined the Taliban to defeat the Soviet-backed Najibullah regime.
India has a staunch friend in Russia who has always supported India through warning the US, from threatening India during the Bangladesh freedom struggle. It is not widely known that during the 1971-72 war, the US was determined to force a ceasefire so that the Pakistani forces were not comprehensively defeated. The Soviets repeatedly vetoed the US attempts in the UN Security Council, until Bangladesh was liberated. India captured 92,000 Pakistani soldiers, which strengthened its bargaining position in finalising the Shimla Agreement. This has been forgotten, along with the socialist countries who helped build the public sector.
Russia has consistently transferred the latest arms technology and weapons to India, apart from supplying substantial amounts of oil. Yet the NDA government look towards the US and its allies, and do not develop strategic ties with Russia. Nor have they concentrated on strengthening the global south.
But Modi & co don't know who their real friends are. While they strut about in visits abroad, they constantly fail to build lasting alliances and a coherent strategic policy. The leadership failures of the Indian delegations in the Paris Climate Change talks and Nairobi WTO talks is a scandal covered up by the pro-corporate media, but has dismayed many countries of the south.
In matters of strategy, what has the NDA contributed? Apparently, though due warning was given about the entry of terrorists near Pathankot by a police SP, it was not taken seriously. Because of this lack of strategic sense, while the Indian military bleeds and whose advice is not given the weight it deserves, India led by PM Modi has become a victim of his own illusions of diplomacy with Pakistan. How long must it take for a more coherent strategic doctrine to emerge? How many more will die till then?