A quick read on Taliban 2.0 and the fall of Kabul :
1.The change of regime was engineered by the US in full public gkare including promises of a transition and interim government
2.The ISI did not subscribe to the idea but asked the Talibs to play along regardless
3.The old guard (Northern Alliance) Amarullah Saleh , Ata Muhammad Noor and Abdul Rashid Dostum were sidelined by Ghani on the directions of Zalmay Khalilzad
4.The fissures in the government were visible in the public posturing of the old guard which smelt a rat from the outset
5. As fighting erupted in Faryab and Herat, ANA and ANDSF fought back ferociously and managed to reverse initial losses
6. A message went went out from the Presidential Palace asking the ANA/ANDSF to stand down as a power sharing agreement was being worked out.
2. The genesis of this war is a war of ideologies among the two sects of Islam ; 'Shia' and 'Sunni' with Sunnis being the dominant population in the Middle East , North Africa , Pakistan , Indonesia , India and Malaysia.
3. The Muslim populations of most of these countries look towards Saudi Arabia (Custodian of Mecca and Medina) or Iran for support and guidance on issues of religious conflict , regional conflict , social trends and laws. It is a dotted line relationship.
It is not often that a news article gets stuck in your mindspace.With #COVID19 spreading a pall of gloom ; new infections , deaths , ventilators , PPE and above all #China dominates every piece of breaking news
Images from @JetPhotos
However a recent story by @Ashoke_Raj for @ANI@livemint and @EconomicTimes broke the mould and brought a smile on many a face.Special Evacuation Flights by @airindian , an extra cheerful Pakistani ATCO (Air Traffic Controller) and loads of pleasanteries and praise
A story which had too many things going right for it. News that stood out as mushy and unreal and had to be investigated atleast to the extent Open Source information would allow
Drawing from Yun Sun's take on China's Strategic Assessment of India , it would be prudent to delve intio aspects other than Doklam which impact Sino-Indian dynamics.
1. The resurgence of Indian covert capabilities have gradually deleveraged the Chinese MSS in the North East.
2. The MSS used a network of human assets , training camps and ports in Bangladesh , Myanmar and Thailand to facilitate insurgency in the North-East.This included sheltering key leaders like ULFA's Paresh Barua and NSCN-K's S.S.Khaplang inside Chinese Territory.
3. Gun running by the MSS involved Chinese commercial trawlers and Thai drug dealers.The trawlers would offload arms off the Bangladesh coast on speed boats and smaller fishing boats.These were then passed onto insurgents in the North-East through Cox Bazaar and Chittagong
Let me try and piece this together in a series of tweets
The article in question is a crude attempt at a 1000 word school essay on the Arjun MBT by @KyleMizokami which has been published thrice since April 2017.The links are shared below for verification