Kashmir Digits

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has said that New Delhi was concerned about the possibility of militant activities from Afghanistan impacting India. He added that contingency plans were put into place to deal with such a challenge.

“As far as Afghanistan is concerned, we will make sure that any activity likely to flow out of Afghanistan and then find its way into India will be dealt with in the manner in which we have been dealing with terrorism in our country,” Gen Rawat said.

“I think if any other support can be forthcoming from the Quad nations, in at least identifying the terrorists and getting some intelligence input to fight this global war on terrorism, I think that will be welcomed,” he said.

“And to that extent, our contingency planning had been ongoing and we are prepared for it. Yes, the timelines certainly surprised us. We were anticipating this thing happening maybe a couple of months down the line,” he added.

Gen Rawat said the Taliban has not changed in the last 20 years and only its partners have changed.

“It is pretty much the same; it is the same Taliban that was there 20 years ago. News reports and reports from the expats who have come from there are all telling us the kind of activities the Taliban is into. All that has happened is that the partners have now changed. It is the same Taliban with different partners,” Gen Rawat observed.

(Inputs from news agencies)