Fighting Terror

The world awaits the military parade for the birthday bash of the POTUS Donald Trump on June 14. The select list of invitees includes the SS (Self-Styled) Field Marshal Asim Munir of Pakistan. In his testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee, General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said, “We have to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can't have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India. We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has”. Kurilla praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner” in counterterrorism efforts, noting that despite limited intelligence support, Pakistan has actively pursued ISIS-K operatives, leading to tangible impacts on the group’s activities (https://www.indiandefensenews.in/2025/06/us-has-to-have-relationship-with.html?m=1).

The basic task of American think tanks, all linked to the US State Department and the Pentagon, is advance planning of which country/region should be destabilized when and in what timeframe, enabling the US to advance its strategic and economic interests. So, it is no surprise that a smart aleck of Rand Corporation wants to explain why US-Pakistan ties are here to stay.

The problem with these hombres is they think the rest of the world, especially Indians, are fools who can’t see through their terrorists-aided warmongering. It was covered in these columns earlier how the US is linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda, how the US installed the anti-India radical Islamist regime in Dhaka, the CIA-MI6-ISI nexus, Donald Trump installing LeT-trained Ismail Royer in the White House, and why Trump loves Pakistan so much (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/americas-legacy-of-terror/). External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently emphasised to the West the threat of terrorism, particularly emanating from Pakistan, is a global threat that will eventually impact all nations, not just India (https://www.indiandefensenews.in/2025/06/terrorism-will-come-back-to-haunt-you.html?m=1). Doesn’t the West obviously know this? The fact is that the US sponsors terrorism and “uses” terrorists as its proxy boots. Craig Murray says ISIS never attacks Israel because they’re sponsored by Israel and the CIA. Moreover, Israel’s Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently admitted using ISIS in Gaza.

The US has been supporting and using not only ISIS and Al Qaeda, but also funding a dozen other terrorist organization, including El Shabab in Somalia, Hamzi network in Sudan, Hamas,  Hezbollah, and Haya Tahr Al Shams in Syria.

It may be recalled that a top FBI counter-terrorism official had told the US Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that that investigators had “traced the origin of the funding of 9/11 back to financial accounts in Pakistan (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/9/11-funds-came-from-Pakistan-says-FBI/articleshow/107432.cms). Did this diminish America’s love for Pakistan? Of course not; because Pakistan supplies terrorists to the US and as Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has admitted the country’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations as “dirty work” for the West (not the US alone) for the past several decades (https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-doing-wests-dirty-work-for-decades-pakistan-defence-minister/article69490687.ece).

Pakistan was let off the “grey list” of the FATF, courtesy to the US. Same goes for the IMF and World Bank loans now granted to Pakistan. To top this, Pakistan is to now chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2025 and serve as vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body (https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-to-chair-taliban-sanctions-committee-of-unsc/article69655928.ece). Isn’t this so blatantly cute? Despite the so-called IMF pressure, Pakistan has hiked its defence budget by 20%; allocating PKR 2.55 trillion (about INR 76,500 crore) for defence in FY26. It is on record that the US has been funding the Taliban and has ignored the genocide perpetrated in Balochistan over the past decades by Pakistan, supported by China. Pakistan is now employing ISKP-K against the Baloch fighters. It is well known that the ISKP-K was raised by Pakistan (with full knowledge of the CIA, by amalgamation cadres of the Taliban, TTP, LeT and the ISI) in Peshawar and pushed west into Afghanistan.

But where the US is two-timing the world on terrorism, Pakistan has also been double-timing the US. Pakistan “gifted” Shaksgam Valley in 1963 to China, land in POK to China for building BRI (termed CPEC), and handed over the Nur Khan Air Base to the US base close to Islamabad and Rawalpindi to store American nukes nearby for use against China. Isn’t this why Trump sprang into action when Indian missiles struck Nur Khan during Operation ‘Sindoor’? At the same time, Pakistan is also running a China-funded bio-research facility with no restrictions on the types of pathogens being developed. 

India is also trying its hand on double-timing China in its own way. In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, EAM S Jaishankar said, “You know, many of the weapon systems that Pakistan has are, of Chinese origin, and the two countries are very close. You can draw your conclusions from that” (https://www.livemint.com/news/world/draw-your-conclusions-jaishankar-chinas-role-in-india-pakistan-conflict-islamabad-beijing-very-close-operation-sindoor-11748306566539.html); an indirect warning to China for supporting Pakistan during Op ‘Sindoor’.  But concurrently, the Chairman of Adani Group clasps  Ambassador Luo Zhaohui in the Chinese embassy at New Delhi.

The government line is to “boycott China” but India’s exports to China stand at USD 16 billion compared to Chinese exports to India at USD 113 billion; USD 97 billion balance of trade in China’s favour. 

Jaishankar has issued a warning to Pakistan that Op ‘Sindoor’ is not over and terrorists will be hunted down wherever they are – to the end of the Earth? Ironically, the terrorists who executed the Pahalgam massacre are still at large and who ordered lifting of the security cover in Pahalgam is yet to be identified or rather clarified. Ironically, Pahalgam massacre mastermind and deputy chief of LeT Saifullah Khalid was recently seen at a public rally spewing anti-India venom in Pakistan’s Punjab in company of Hafiz Saeed's son Talha Saeed, and Pakistani politician Malik Ahmad Khan sharing the stage, with Pakistani army providing protection. It is high time, India starts striking such terrorist rallies in Pakistan, with minimum collateral damage, as Israel would do; if we “really” want to send a stern message to Pakistan.

Amid all this geopolitical sleaze, trust the social media to keep the humour alive. Trump is trumpeting about the economy doomed by Joe Biden. One post says Americans have won the Nobel Prize in economics 62 times between 1969 and 2023, with China and Japan winning none, but the US owes USD 1.1 trillion to Japan and USD 859 billion to China (authenticity?). But the most hilarious one is the Red Indians discussing the violence in LA as new immigrants fighting with the old ones. Link this with Trump presented with his grandfather’s birth certificate during his recent visit to Germany, who migrated to the US. Whether he was a Nazi is not known but how many Red Indians did grandpa gun down? 

Finally, India must acknowledge that the US-led West and the CIA-MI6-ISI are unshakeable realities. The horrific Air India crash, coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the G7 Summit in Canada, with 240 plus dead, is without doubt a clear case of sabotage. And this reality is not going to change. India should expect many more shocks of this type in the future.

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.