NEW DELHI: India had been anticipating a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, but not so soon, said India’s senior-most military officer General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday. India is prepared and has contingency plans to handle terrorist activities from Afghanistan, if any.
The Chief of Defence Staff said, “We were concerned how terrorist activities from Afghanistan could overflow into India, so our contingency planning had been ongoing and we are prepared for that. The timeline has surprised us, but it is the same Taliban of 20 years ago,” General Rawat added.
He was speaking on “The India-US Partnership: Securing the 21st Century” during an event organised by the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation.Pointing to the changes in the present regime compared to the Taliban of 1994-2001, General Rawat said nothing except for the partners have changed. The previous regime used to create safe havens for terrorist activities. During this period, an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked to Kandahar.
General Rawat stressed on freedom of navigation in Indo-Pacific and requirement of increase in understanding between the QUAD countries. “When we talk about trade and freedom of navigation, we need to look at Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as one entity because you cannot have trade happening only in Indian Ocean, when somebody else is controlling the Pacific Ocean. So it has to be Indo-Pacific and that is what I think it is referred to as Indo-Pacific region.”
India is capable of handling adversaries in the neighbourhood, said the Chief of Defence Staff. “We are surrounded by two neighbours armed with strategic weapons. We are evolving our strategy accordingly and developing capabilities. Conventionally, we are very strong and confident of dealing with both adversaries in conventional domain,” General Rawat asserted.
E-visa for all Afghan nationals
All Afghan nationals henceforth must travel to India only on e-Visa in view of the prevailing situation
ALSO WATCH:
His comments came in the backdrop of mounting concerns over the possibility of rise in activities of various terror groups including the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Admiral Aquilino largely talked about challenges facing the Indo-Pacific, noting that it is the most consequential region for the future.
"The attack on the rules-based international order that allows freedom of navigation for all is certainly one of the most critical challenges," he said "That freedom of navigation allows two-thirds of the world's economy to flow through the South China Sea. One-quarter of the world's liquid natural gas flows through the area. It is critical for the prosperity of all the nations and when it is challenged and potentially confronted, that will negatively impact all the nations in the region," Admiral Aquilino said.
He described the challenges as the "foundational security concern".
"There are many more. There is economic coercion, there is corruption. There are challenges that the Indians, specifically with regard to sovereignty on the Line of Actual Control....There are rules against the people of Hong Kong," he said.