...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it
Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
Valley.
"Pakistain-sponsored terrorism will likely increase in Kashmir after U.S. troops leave Afghanistan," said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, reported CNS News.
"Pakistain has learned that state sponsorship of terrorism works as a tool of its foreign policy, and the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
’s victory emboldens jihadist groups," added Roggio.
Observers fear that the Kashmir conflict may only worsen as the United States detangles itself from 20 years of war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Moreover, optimism that a cessation in hostilities in Kashmir had been holding was shattered early Sunday, with at least nine people maimed in a grenade attack by a terrorist targeting Indian police, reported CNS News.
India blames Pakistain for the protracted conflict, accusing its neighbour of giving a free hand to terrorists.
Tensions hit a fresh high in August 2019 when the government of India withdrew the special status of Kashmir.
The move infuriated Pakistain, which views Kashmir as the most critical issue in its bulging foreign policy file.
New Delhi says it remains dedicated to fighting terrorism, which gained momentum in the late 1980s. Analysts have long asserted that terrorist groups operate with the backing, or at least muted acceptance, of Islamabad, reported CNS News.
Adding to the regional dilemma, the US is now on the hunt for regional intelligence partners as it draws down its forces in Afghanistan.
Given Pakistain’s longstanding collusion with terror groups, many question whether it could be a viable, reliable partner, reported CNS News.
According to global risk analyst Dennis Santiago, the Paks are "strategically conflicted in places like Afghanistan."
’They play their own game of hill-and-valley power on their land border, making local alliances, sending supplies, and spinning narratives that benefit the interests of the nation of Pakistain," he said.
"These interests that do not align with the interests and objectives of the United States in Afghanistan. It is a region of miniature proxy wars between second-string interests, none of whom believe that the United States is their answer to salvation."
Roggio observed that Pakistain experienced significant internal conflict by supporting the US presence in Afghanistan.
"Additionally, the US should be wary of Pakistain, which has been duplicitous in Afghanistan," he said.