Afghanistan is in shambles. The Taliban militants have captured more than half of the country. The tales of Human Rights violation is getting more horrible with each passing day. Taliban has captured the Mi-35 attack helicopter gifted to Afghanistan by India. They have also taken control over India Afghanistan Friendship Dam (also known as Salma Dam locally). Investments of billions of dollars made by India has presumably been lost. The Indian Embassy is working overtime to rescue out all Indian nationals. This is a War.
If we in India aspire to be a global power, we can’t sit quiet while Terrorists dethrone a democratically elected government in our nieghbourhood and murder innocent civilians. Many Indians have requested the Government to provide military and logistics support to the Afghanistan National Army. While the pros and cons of this step may be debatable, any request for this has to come through proper diplomatic channels.
So, what’s the way forward? To understand this, we need to analyze the source of power of Taliban. It’s the close support of Pakistan Military and the tribal warlords on Afg-Pak border (also known as FATA regions), that makes Taliban the mighty force it is today.
Pakistani terrorist groups, including Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar Islam, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jamaat ul Ahrar, Tanzim ul Badr and Lashkar Jangawi were fighting in Eastern provinces like Kunar, Nooristan and Nangarhar and were also fighting along with the Taliban and Haqqani network in Ghazani, Logar, Khost, Paktia, Kandahar, Zabul and Helmand provinces. Pakistan is currently fighting a war with Afghanistan Govt through its proxies.
One way India can easily help Afghanistan is by opening another front for Pakistan. The Pakistan Occupied Kashmir region legally belongs to India. In last 70 years, political parties have had repeatedly promised taking it back. Now is the ripe time.
If India attempts to retake its regions illegally occupied by Pakistan, then Pakistan would be forced to divert its majority of military resources to eastern border, thereby weaking its support to Taliban. That would be sufficient for Afghanistan Defense Forces to get a level field in the war.
The re-capture of POK is also vital because it would open a direct land route to Afghanistan from India, thereby we would no longer have to rely on unstable Iran for the access to landlocked Afghanistan.
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor also passes through POK. If we were to take control of that region, it would provide us with another leverage over China.
If India fails to take the POK back and with the situation in Pakistan getting unstable, China may attempt to control the POK region some day. If that happens, our dream of retaking POK would be practically shattered. Is the current Govt of India listening?