Tag Archives | Pragati
The Kabul Park Residence attacks
By Rohan Joshi on February 26, 2010 in Afghanistan, Central Asia, Foreign Policy, India, Indian Air Force, Iran, pakistan army, Quetta Shurah, Russia, Terrorism
India's short term option — don't flinch.
Today, six Indians died in suicide attacks perpetrated by the Taliban at the Park Residence and other guesthouses in Kabul, Afghanistan. This included Indian consulate staff, an ITBP constable and two Indian army officers. At least five other individuals were injured in the attack, including five Indian army officers.
This blog, along with others, has in the past articulated what India must do in Afghanistan to protect its national interests. In the August 2008 edition of Pragati, Sushant K Singh argued in favor of a larger Indian military presence in Afghanistan and warned of the long term consequences were India to rely exclusively on "soft power." In January 2010's Pragati, I put forth a case for India to train the Afghanistan National Army (ANA), thereby assisting in raising a credible unit to act as a bulwark against the Taliban and Pakistan's military-jihadi complex. Commentators like Harsh Pant have opined that India must stop hedging its bets on the US and must work with other actors like Russia and Iran to engage all sections of Afghan society.
However, despite repeated attacks against Indians and Indian interests in Afghanistan, Manmohan Singh's government appears disinclined to readjust its Afghanistan strategy. Today's attack will not likely force a rethink on how to engage with Afghanistan either. Given India's self-imposed shackles and the likelihood of continued attacks against Indian soft targets in the war ravaged nation, India has but one option at its disposal in the short term, and that is to not flinch.
Attacks such as these may lead to calls for India's level of engagement in Afghanistan to be reconsidered. However, downgrading Indian presence in Afghanistan is the surest way to convey to the military jihadi complex (MJC) that it can force Indian action through terror. The MJC feels that it is at an advantageous position: it has outlasted the Americans, reinserted itself (and the Taliban) into Afghanistan's political space and the top leadership of the Quetta Shura — despite the capture of Abdul Ghani Baradar and Mohammed Younis — remains mostly intact. The MJC will enjoy a tremendous psychological boost from the notion that it forced the Americans and the Indians to withdraw from Afghanistan. It will seek to replicate the model by imposing severe costs on India in Kashmir and the mainland.
It is wrong to suppose that India's involvement in Afghanistan is merely about power projection and easy access to energy rich Central Asia. India is facing an existential battle and denying the MJC "strategic depth" in Afghanistan is a critical component to India's own internal security. Therefore, if India insists in not altering its ill-conceived stance vis-a-vis hard power in Afghanistan, it must at the very least maintain its investment profile in the country, while fully expecting to be targeted repeatedly and frequently by the MJC. Only the Indian government can explain how this is a better alternative to the introduction of Indian hard power in Afghanistan.
It is significant that India's reconstruction efforts have earned it tremendous goodwill in Afghanistan. An opinion poll ( ) conducted in Afghanistan in January 2010 by BBC/ABC/ARD indicated a 71% favorable view of India, as opposed to 15% favorable view of Pakistan. In the meduim- to long run, India must work with the US, regional actors and Afghans across the political gamut and ensure that an effective and credible counterweight to the MJC and the Taliban is sustained in Afghanistan.
Battleground Cyberspace: My article in Pragati
By Rohan Joshi on July 6, 2009 in Central Asia, China, Cyber Terrorism, Cyber warfare, Defense Forces of India, India, information technology, Pakistan, Pragati, Russia, Terrorism
In this month's Pragati, I lay out the state of India's defense preparedness in the theater of cyberspace and argue for a sustained commitment to the proactive defense of the nation's information assets, as well for the augmentation of India's capabilities in conducting offensive IO operations. Both of these can only be effective when operating under a legislative framework that is attuned to global trends in the proliferation and use of information technology in the conduct of both conventional and unconventional warfare in this Information Age.
DECEMBER 24, 2008. Barely a month after the 26/11 attacks, a group calling itself "Whackerz Pakistan" hacks into the Indian Eastern Railways website, defacing it with a series of threats against Indian financial institutions and Indian citizens. Earlier that year, hackers from China attacked the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website. Despite official denials, at least one website reported that the hackers stole login identities and passwords of several Indian diplomats.
The proliferation of information technology in India, coupled with low levels of security awareness (at personal, corporate and government levels) means that this vulnerability to attacks from hostile national and sub-national entities will only increase. The rapid adaptation of new technologies in today's world presents challenges that India, and other nations, will be forced to address. Due to the nature of cyber warfare and cyber terrorism, no nation can truly be invulnerable to attacks. Indeed, cyber attacks will continue to be weapons of choice to many, given issues of jurisdiction in bringing offenders to book, relative anonymity of operating over the Internet, and the negligible cost associated with mounting a cyber attack (and indeed, each incremental cyber attack) against a specific adversary.
Read more about it on Pragati ( PDF; 2.5 MB)