Edit: Still in a shambles

It took nearly 10 years of patient, meticulous planning and single-minded dedication for the United States to get Osama bin Laden. In the intervening years in Washington, the Republicans handed over the White House to the Democrats, a ‘war president’ making way for a newcomer with no military experience and a stated agenda to scale back the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That same year when the twin towers fell to al-Qaeda on 9/11, terrorists walked into India’s Parliament on December 13 and sprayed bullets at unarmed members of the ‘watch and ward’ staff while parliamentarians locked themselves in and ill-equipped police personnel with outdated weapons took on the attackers.

The BJP-led NDA government’s reaction was an unmitigated disaster. Still buoyed by the ‘victory’ in the Kargil conflict in 1999, it mobilised a reluctant and unprepared Indian military to go and sit on the borders for nearly nine months while Pakistan called New Delhi’s bluff. In the bargain, India lost more soldiers in de-mining operations and accidents than it had lost in most of the wars fought after Independence and was left shamefaced by the misadventure.

Ten years later, India’s security policies are still in a shambles. The recommendations of the group of ministers after the Kargil war were immediately put in cold storage by the UPA government. With business continuing as usual, terrorists walked into Mumbai on 26/11 and killed scores of people. And India’s urban landscape continues to be scarred by serial bombings.

Instead of a coherent and credible response, India’s leaders continue to ignore urgent reforms and create structures only to dismantle them. Today, an isolated Union home minister waits for his ‘dream projects’ to get support from his cabinet colleagues.

With the US all set to pull out of Afghanistan, New Delhi is clueless about the regional repercussions. India’s cold start doctrine remains on paper and its intelligence agencies remain as insular as ever, refusing to give up their colonial practices for wars of the future.