A quick history
It was a sunny morning on the first of May, 2021 when Joe Biden announced the pullout of troops from Afghanistan ending decades long war. America is finally out of the War after decades . Despite its laughable outcome where afghans end up riding - black hawks and firing bazookas. This is not what American taxpayers spent their 18 trillion dollars on , yet the world was a different place back then .
The final etches of Covid were fast disappearing. Everyone thought the world was heading towards a somewhat quiet atmosphere . It lasted 10 days . The Taliban just took over Afghanistan , the Palestinian conflict between Israel and Palestin has begun their yearly turf war. Syria had a civil war on their hands . Despite theas grim stats , barring the Middle East , the world was at peace .
2021 was the last known year when not a single super power was at war! And things…. Changed…. At a rapid phase.
2022
Everything changed in 2022 when Russia launched a "special military operation" on Ukraine. It was war but nobody calls a war, as war anymore! Initially it was reported that Russia suffered huge losses and Ukraine might even win the whole thing! There was subtle yet heavy “behind the curtains “ support from the USA and EU. The world even thought about whether the USA was in a proxy war with Russia .
But as with any war , this War was also a numbers game. Ukraine always has to look to the west for funds, weapons, all they have is numbers(personal fighting war) however meager the number it is. Russia is more populous and all they have to do is to keep attacking and stay put! And they exactly did that.
2023
Israel launched an attack on Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel . Every major news outlet forgot about the Russian invasion,and ran with the latest news cycle.
2024 -
Russians captured around 18% of Ukraine, Israel grazed Gaza, and Trump won! There is a change in world order now. Take it however you want but the 2024 Word of the Year by oxford is "brain rot,"
2025:
Trump wants a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine , while disrespecting Ukraine’s Zelensky , while eying rare earth minerals and letting Russia keep the invaded territory.
He also suggested adding Canada as a 51st state, and floated ideas of buying greenland (as 52nd ) and taking back Gaza to its glory(as 53rd state?) . Not by war though.
Cut to April 2025.
On a hot April day, Pahalgam attack happened . A month later, India launched a midnight - targeted - air strike inside Pakistan and named it “operation Sindhoor” - Again not calling it a war! Perhaps Oxford should remove that word from its 2025 dictionary.
With this the short history lesson is over.
But the stats should bring us few focus points
- The bigger the country , the longer they can withstand and sustain the war - Russia v Ukraine
- The more advanced the country, more the destruction - Israel v Gaza
- When a country has both 1 & 2 , and has a neighbor that it hates and gets hated even more reciprocally, we arrive at India and Pakistan.
Now I don't want to go into this article with a moral high ground. My intent is to present the facts the way I saw it, up to this point.
India and Pakistan have a long history of being at War at the turn of every decade and most of the time it's hard even to state facts. Henceforth, all these are my opinions about my opinions of facts.
Tread with caution.
Pahalgam and the aftermath
When a country gets attacked by the way it happened in Pahalgam , where a few random terrorists walk in and kill innocent tourists, any nation would be spooked. When a nation is spooked, the politicians obviously try to console the country to win a perception war , both at home and at the world stage.
For India , That consolation is the targeted military strikes on Pakistan.
Those who follow Indian history know that this is neither the beginning nor the end of their conflict. All these problems stem from a strategically important place called Kashmir. The history of Kashmir is older than the history of India, Pakistan and their conflicts , so let’s not go there.
When a nation is in panic , its subjects typically want a quick reaction . Indians wanted revenge, and the shrewd politicians did give them Something back.
A previous example would be the 2019 Balakot strikes.
Now post Pahalgam attack , the most important thing to note is that A nation during such times doesn’t operate on simple unbiased logic or on a calculated diplomatic arithmetics .
It operates on emotional logic . Emotional logic is where the patriarchy and nationalism builds. And when it’s built out , patriarchy looks at hegemony for action , a quick brazen something! And you don’t console that patriotism . It’s the same reason why you don’t stand in front of an elephant that’s on the run.
India gave that something using targeted strikes and a sense of euphoria swept through the nation. This will eventually die down, when human minds completely capitulate to the sense of victory and moves on .
But wars or military operations don't stop there. The same minds which wanted heads of our neighbors now have to mourn for collateral damage to its own side . While jubilation is temporary the scars left behind are not !
With all this history, we can concur that a war never really solves anything .
War or strikes are an effective tool , when the nations can control them and end them within a fortnight or two. These are typically less damaging than a prolonged conflict.
At The current state, India and Pakistan, has no endgame. There is no land grab plan here .. There are no ground operations.. yet! So there is really no need to put the finger on nuclear arsenal and that causes confusion!
What is the true cost of war ?
When a war like this taking center stage , controlling th narrative is everything ! That’s what both the countries did.
The recent attack by India and the aftermath did the optics part perfectly! . It evoked a more natural human response when its subjects saw names like operation sindoor and seeing two women lieutenants briefing the media. Tit for far played to the point!
But what next? Where does this all end? India words and plays this out with more sensibility than the other . However, Pakistan wants to control the narrative ! No one wants to lose a war on social media despite the ground data showing the opposite . I wouldn’t be surprised if Pakistan keeps attacking India without committing to a cause , while working through back channels to spin up the propaganda machinery.
Which brings us to the final point ! Whom do we believe?
No one ! At a time like this , never trust the news even when it looks authentic . A prime example is the pak defense minister's claims on live television that they shot down multiple India jets and how he became a laughing stock for not providing any evidence.
India is also playing a waiting game , trying to get the world's approval that it’s not in this for a war ! But next week or so is going to be critical , I really hope , wish and pray that it doesn’t prolong for a fortnight. It’s my belief that India wants to move towards a stable feature and inch towards being the 3rd largest economy and Pakistan tries to fix its political , health issues at home . A crippled Pakistan where terrorists running amok is not whom we want As neighbors!
And an obligatory tidbit. Despite my best efforts not to bring my nationality into this article , there is a high chance that some of you might find it slightly biased towards India.
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