If the US had begun the war on terror from inside Pakistan, instead of Afghanistan, it would have won the war by now and at a much lesser cost, says Captain Bharat Verma, strategic expert and editor of Indian Defence Review (IDR).
A quarterly journal read by leading policy makers at senior bureaucratic, political and military levels, the IDR is renowned as the 'most-quoted Indian defence publication'.
In an interview with R Rajesh Kumar and Sarita Ravindranath, Captain Verma discusses the impact of Osama bin Laden's death on Pakistan and Afghanistan, Islamabad's great deception, and what India needs to do now.
The gunning down of Osama is a huge symbolic victory for the US. But do you fear as some other commentators have that his 'martyrdom' will only serve to help the al-Qaeda?
Islamic Jihad Factory tactics are based on 'hit-and-run' guerrilla warfare. These are 'ghost armies' that more or less remain invisible as they merge easily with the civil society. However, if their top leadership is neutralised, the setback is immense.
The brilliant knockout punch by the Special Forces to Laden right inside his den in a hostile land sends a clear message 'Don't ever mess with us!'
In any concrete, decisive action, there will be reactions. Overall, the benefit that will accrue is much higher than the fallout in the long run.
Also, a clear mental fatigue has been setting in the Islamic Jihad Factory for sometime now.
By not allowing the burial on land, post Osama, the rallying point for the Islamic fundamentalists will not be powerful enough as it was immediately after the very public capture of Saddam. This is a sensible strategy.
Image: The cover of a special issue of Time magazine on the death of Osama bin Laden is displayed on the Nasdaq screen in New York's Times Square. It is the fourth cover in Time's history to feature the red X. Other covers showed Adolf Hitler on May 7, 1945, Saddam Hussein on April 21, 2003, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 19, 2006.
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