Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Mihir
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Mihir »

The book is all war: military units like an armoured formation or an AWACS aircraft are shown in action with their crews but Ahuja largely ignores the human face of war
Let me begin by saying that this is a fair statement. Compared to what the likes of Sven Hassel or Leon Uris have written, Vivek's novel gives relatively little space to the human face of war. But that's not what the book is about anyway! Vivek's subject is the war itself, and not one or two players dealing with a tiny aspect of a larger conflict. You really can't put such vivid descriptions of battles across the gamut of operations and at the same time give enough time and space to develop characters in depth in a single, readable novel.

What I take exception to is the use of the cliched phrase "capture... the futility of war". Arre bhai, why do we take it for granted that war is futile? There are situations in which resorting to controlled violence is the only path to a lasting solution. When the peaceful/diplomatic option has been exhausted, there may be no choice for a nation to go to war to further its ends. As long as the leadership keeps sight of realistic long-term political objectives and doesn't think of war as an end in itself, the "futility" of war is open to debate. Was 1971 futile? Operation Polo? The Liberation of Goa? But I rant...

On the other hand, the writer does seem to be a jingo who "yee-haw!"-ed every time a Rambha smacked down a J-10. That much is evident from his writing! :)
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by kapilrdave »

Destruction takes place on a grand scale but the human element is lacking. Bad things happen and the soldiers put up a display of psychological invincibility. The scarring and futility of war, if it were captured, would have made this novel have greater depth and range.
This is wrong. Vivek has thoroughly described the 'futility of war' dawning on Chinese commanders/politicians. They started it and then realized that they made a mistake. Why must India realize the phootileeti? Specially when India didn't have a choice.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by rajanb »

Is the reviewer suggesting that there should be some rona dhona and a song and dance sequence in between?

Right man to write the Bollywood screenplay for you Vivek! :wink:
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Mukesh.Kumar »

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

After waiting for so long, I received my package. I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night


Thanks once again to Vivek for the great effort. Twokweshen's for Vivek: How have sales been picking up? Any movement on the India publishing front?
nits
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by nits »

Vivek Saar - any news on india Version
Misraji
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Misraji »

For folks interested in good books, try this one: Dragons at War: 2-34 in the Mojave

It describes the 1982 exercise at US Army NTC (National Training Center) between OPFOR (simulated Soviet Motorized Battalion) and US Army Mechanized battalion.
I am still only half-way through the book.
The author has been describing in great detail, the administrative setup responsible for co-ordinating at battalion and company levels and their first skirmish that results in complete disaster

The book gives an AWESOME insight into the logistics that power the fighting units, communication and co-ordination problems, fog-of-war etc.
Cant recommend it enough.

--Ashish
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Prem Kumar »

Vivek: bought your book on Amazon. Will need to find time to read it. Since I follow your scenarios closely, I will take my time to go about reading it.

Congrats on your book!

The Indian Express review isnt too bad. He is right about the human face. Its not about song & dance but the concept of developing characters in a novel. Perhaps in your next book, you can take this into account, tone down the war sequences and develop the human interest angle. Its an important element in making the book appealing to the masses, all of whom might not have the same jingo level. That's what made Tom Clancy widely read.

I am sure you can pick up those skills as you go along
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Ramana,

Thanks for closing and archiving the previous scenarios thread. I appreciate it.

I will continue the new scenario "Fenix" over here.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Gentlemen,

I plan on continuing the Fenix scenario here from now on. My work on the second novel has taken a parallel path to the BRF scenarios and I will be looking to make that a direct-to-publishing book to come out later this year. But I would like to continue Fenix because I don't think this scenario line needs to die because of the vagaries of the Indian publishing world.

Fenix will continue to be simulation driven and heavy on analysis (technical / military / Geo-political). The novel will be more story driven and to the point.

Thanks

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by manish.rastogi »

Yayy!!
Great news sirjee!!

Please continue!!
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Sanku »

Vivek, how about the book sales in India? Any luck? Am still waiting for that. (Since need to buy a number of copies)

Rgds
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by ramana »

Vivek, More power to you.
Bash on regardless.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_24793 »

Guru ho ja shuru!!! Cant wait for the continuation of Fenix scenario. All the best Vivek sir. Jai Hind
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

So we have about 5 pages with not much material on Fenix. As a result, I am collating the posts on Fenix together and reposting them here along with the new posts to the end so we have some sort of continuity in there.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

The blue sky flashed white and the clouds flashed into oblivion as he raised his hands to shield him from the intense light. But it only got worse and he could see the reddish-pink color of blood inside his arms as the light made even the skin transparent.
Was that even possible?
Not really…but what was certain was that the ball of white was now turning to yellow and orange and revealing itself to be what it really was: a ball of fire expanding in the skies above…

“Go! Go! Get to cover!” He ran at full speed and leapt over the rocks and snow as others in his team turned to do the same. But they weren’t fast enough. How could they be? They were only human after all.

The ground shook and Captain Pathanya fell on his left knee as the gravel began to shake itself loose and boulders began rolling down the hillside. He tried getting up but found his knees weak for some reason. He saw his rifle shaking with the gravel on the ground nearby and he turned on his back to face the valley behind him even as others staggered past him. He saw Vikram running by and spotting him on the ground. Only seconds had passed till now, but it felt as though everything was going far more slowly. Even as he saw Vikram’s gaping mouth yelling his name out, Pathanya turned to see the white cover of snow flashing away like the clouds as the fireball smashed into the rocky hillsides and a high wall of dirt, gravel and rocks ran up the valley towards their ridge. He saw Vikram turning towards the approaching shockwave from the airborne nuclear detonation with a face of pure horror just as a large tree trunk overtook Pathanya’s view, slammed into his leg and his view went black…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

THREE YEARS LATER




PROLOGUE


VAIRENGTE
MIZORAM
23RD FEBRUARY + 0353 HRS


Pathanya jerked from his bed with a cold sweat. His hands were on his chest checking for wounds and he found himself surprisingly out of breath. He turned to see the small red digital readout of the alarm clock nearby and regained his bearings. And then he felt the sweat on his forehead and his heartbeat began to slow down from the rapid pumping it had been doing in his chest a few seconds ago.

The same nightmare again…

He caught his breath and realized that there was no way he was going to fall back to bed again. So he shoved his blankets away and rolled himself off the bed. He checked his left thigh with his fingers pressing down on it and the pain slowly shot up the rest of his body as he pressed it some more. The thick scar left there by that tree log had taken him two years to heal acceptably. During that time he had been walking with a stagger that had not gone unnoticed within the small Para community he belonged to. He hated it. Hated the attention it garnered and the stories—no rumors! —that spread as a result of it. He just wanted to be left alone.
Needless to say, he had not been left alone.

The work done by him and his small team of Paras in the mountains of Bhutan had become the stuff of legend within the Indian Army. He glanced over to his uniform hanging behind the door of the wooden hut and saw the moonlight glistening off the various ribbons and citations he had received as a result of it. One of which was the special ribbon given to all of the Paras from the 9TH, 10TH, 11TH and 12TH Battalions of the Regiment from the King of Bhutan for services rendered in the defense of that Himalayan Kingdom from the Chinese forces. The “Snow-Lions”, as the Indian Paras were now known to the Bhutanese citizenry, had received that ribbon soberly in view of the thousands of Indian soldiers who lost their lives alongside the fifteen-thousand Bhutanese civilians when the two nuclear detonations had ripped the Himalayan kingdom apart.

To Pathanya, the price had been the loss of six of the ten team members of his Spear LRRP team plus two more severely wounded, including himself. The first to go had been Second-Lieutenant Ganesh who had taken a deep splinter wound on their second day after entering Bhutan. Then the nuclear explosion over the Barshong valley had taken with one swipe what the Chinese soldiers from the PLA’s former “Highland Division” had been unable to for more than a week of brutal combat…

Gone!

He stopped pressing down on his scar, sighed and headed to the hanging uniform near the closed door. He could see the darkness outside beginning to turn to dark gray as the early morning fog descended over the green trees. He rubbed his thumb over the ribbon given specially to him, Tarun and Vikram by the King of Bhutan in Thimpu a few months after the war.

Yes. That ceremony had been simple and sober too. The young King had aged tremendously over that time as his country had struggled to recover from the grievous wounds inflicted to it by the war. Even so, he had put the ribbon on the three men and patted them on the shoulder for what they had done to prevent the fall of the city during the early days of that war.

“The Thimpu Shield,” Pathanya said to himself as he remembered what the King had told the three men at the emotional ceremony that bright sunny day. He sighed again.
He took his tee-shirt from the rack nearby and grabbed his jogging shoes before walking outside and sitting on the cold rocks of the steps at the edge of the hut’s foundation. He tied his shoes, stretched his muscles and began running on the dirt path past the lawns and towards the trail that headed into the woods just as the first chirping bird sounds began filling the air around him.

Of course, it had been a major struggle for Pathanya to stay on in the army with the leg wound. It had taken him months of recovery and many more months of struggle to learn to walk again without a stagger. Even more months to jog at anything resembling the speeds at which he had been able to before that war. But he had managed to survive and prove to the army doctors that he was still fit for duty. Given his combat record, the army had been somewhat relenting and had given him a chance to pass the Para training course again. And he had.

And during all that time the world had changed. For India, China and Bhutan of course but also Asia and the rest of the world…

Pathanya noticed that he wasn’t alone on the jogging track. He was soon catching up to a group of Paras jogging in unison past the greenery at the Counter-insurgency and Jungle Warfare School or CIJWS where he was currently posted for a brief stint, helping the School supplant its high altitude spec-ops and COIN operational training methods with real combat experience from those that had been involved in the Bhutanese theater during the war.

And those that had survived…he reminded himself as he passed by the jogging soldiers and continued on his lonely path.

Half an hour later he was back at his hut to see his orderly had set up the steaming tea on the table inside. As always. He slowed his jogging and trotted to a stop with his shirt dripping from sweat and his legs burning from the pain. Especially his left thigh. He grimaced at the pain while catching his breath but otherwise ignored it.
“Enjoying the morning, Major?” a voice said behind him as he walked up the steps of his hut, still taking deep breaths. He turned to see an older man in the army field dress walking up to him. He had the SOCOM Operations insignia on his shoulder patch. He also had a smile on his face and the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Pathanya stood in attention and saluted which the senior officer returned.

“At ease, Major.”
Pathanya noticed the man was of Tibetan descent. The man ignored Pathanya’s curiosity and turned to see the green leaves of the trees, the chirping of the birds and glanced up to the colorful morning sky.

“Not as lively up in northern Bhutan, is it?” the Lieutenant-Colonel said with a smile. Pathanya was even more curious now than before, but he kept his peace. His records were available to those at SOCOM headquarters. So it was not particularly surprising that the officer knew about his experience.
Hell, the whole nation did at this point thanks to some investigative journalist who had spilled the beans the year after the war got over.
So why was this officer of Tibetan descent spiking his curiosity?

“You don’t know me, Major,” the old man said quaintly. “My name is Lef-tenant-Colonel Gephel and I worked with some special stuff during the war while you were in Bhutan fighting the Chinese.”

Special-stuff…Pathanya thought. He had learnt soon after the war had ended that there had been teams of Paras culled from the Regiment a year before the war had started for some “nasty” work, as Colonel Misra had said to him after the war. That meant inside Tibet. So while Pathanya and his men had been inside Bhutan for about ten days of intensive operations. These men had been inside Tibet far longer than that. Some in the media had even gone as far as alleging that these men of Tibetan descent had been used inside Tibet to instigate the very rebellion against Beijing that had ultimately led to open war between the two nations months later.

Were they really responsible for instigating that war? Pathanya had never been able to convince himself suitably on that one. At first he had found it easy to blame them for the war and the loss of so many lives, including many from his team. But over time he had let that question go as he had realized the complexity of the problem and the precipitous nature of events preluding that war. Besides, if these teams had been used so effectively, someone high up the command must have authorized it? Could it be the reason that Defense-Minister Chakri had mysteriously resigned from his position on the PM’s cabinet a few months after the war?

Could this man be one of them?

So many questions, Pathanya thought. So few answers. He noticed finally that Gephel was holding out his hand to him. He shook it and Gephel didn’t let it go:
“I have been wanting to meet with you ever since I read about you and your men in Bhutan in the newspapers. Despite the fact I work there, you will be surprised how compartmentalized the information is inside SOCOM headquarters. Hell, I know for a fact that you have no clue what I did during the war any more than what I did about yours. Except that yours made it to the media somehow while mine didn’t!” Gephel chuckled.

“Probably better that way too!” he continued. “I doubt many in Delhi would be happy to have the media talking about my role in that nasty mess. But I wanted to meet you in person, Pathanya. You and your men prevented Bhutan from falling to the Chinese. We should have seen that coming, really, but didn’t. And you rescued us from a catastrophic oversight in our planning.” He finally released Pathanya’s hand.

“I am afraid I don’t fully understand, sir.” Pathanya said finally. He meant it.

“Don’t think about it too much, Major. I just wanted to meet you before I leave for Laddakh to help survey our recently established control there.” He sighed. “It has been three years but the wounds haven’t yet healed out there. Hell, I doubt they ever will. All I know is that I will get to smell the gravel of my birthplace once again. It has been three years since I last did that!” He smiled.

“Yes sir.” Pathanya replied. He knew now that this man was who he thought he was. “Were you originally from near there, sir?”
“No. Gyantse in Tibet.” Gephel smiled again:

“But the Aksai-Chin will do for now.”
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

LANZHOU
CENTRAL CHINA
23RD FEBRUARY + 1030 HRS


Pathanya was not the only one recovering from the war. But unlike him, this man was not suffering from nightmares or even posttraumatic aftereffects. This was not to say that he had been shielded from the war. On the contrary, he had been in the center of it. But defeat tends to leave a bitter taste on the lips…

And it certainly had for him.

Feng leaned back in his seat, surrounded by the humming noise of the engines outside the Tu-154 VIP transport aircraft. He turned his head and saw through the small porthole on his right the wingtip of the Russian-built aircraft buffeting and vibrating as the aircraft went under the white cloud floor below. A few seconds later the bright sunlight was replaced with the shaded view of the frozen winter landscape around Lanzhou airbase.

He loosened his uniform tie and leaned back into the seat, closing his eyes. Today was going to prove yet another reminder of a past he would have liked to forget.
No. That wasn’t quite correct. Every day was a constant reminder of the defeat that his country had suffered. But today would be something positive in an otherwise series of bitter existence for him.

Feng fished into his pocket and removed a small shoulder patch that he had kept with him over the past three years.

Well, almost three years…he corrected himself while he stared at it in silence. The patch showed the pre-war embroidered unit logo for the 26TH Air Division’s 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment (ACCR). His thoughts took him to the day when he had been given this logo by the deputy-commander of the Division, almost on the verge of tears. That had been two months after the end of hostilities in Tibet and it had been at the home base of that unit.

The commander of that force and the vast majority of the men had lost their lives in the war, either piloting their airplanes, manning their systems or maintaining the aircraft on the ground at the forward airbases. The 26TH Air Division had taken brutal losses in the war and had almost consistently been specifically targeted by the Indians. But that had been expected. This unit’s aircraft and men provided the eyes and ears of the PLAAF. And they had done their job efficiently in the initial days of that war. The attention they garnered from the enemy in the latter days of the conflict were testament to their effectiveness.

To be brutally honest about it, of course. Feng admitted.

But the ballistic missile strikes on Golmud and the Indian nuclear retaliation on Korla had decapitated this unit so thoroughly that instead of raising this unit back up in the immediate post-war months, General Chen had ordered the dismantling of the force until such a time as they could be raised up again. Feng remembered the ceremony when the unit’s colors had been lowered at the airbase and the deputy-commander had handed Feng this patch to prevent this unit’s memories and sacrifices from being forgotten within the massive bureaucratic inertia of the Chinese military.

Feng had not cared at the time one way or another. It had been just another unit that had taken near total losses during the war. One unit among so many others. And in his initial furious rearmament initiatives in the postwar months, the 26TH Division was just a number to him.

Over time that feeling had changed. Feng had realized that the unit’s actions were being passed down the chain to young officers and cadets training to join the air-force. And unlike two specific Fighter-Divisions that he had no intention of raising again, this unit had performed well. There was nothing to be ashamed about this unit’s history.

And certainly, lessons had been learned. Equipment and tactics improved over the past two years…

Feng looked away from the patch in his hand as the aircraft cabin shuddered and he saw the aircraft roaring over the runway with full flaps deployed. The airbase tarmac and the lines of parked H-6s were zipping past his view. A few moments later the aircraft slowed and the flaps retracted while the aircraft rolled off the runway and headed towards the tarmac.

Feng let out a deep breath as he stowed the patch back into his shirt and tightened up the tie. The young female air-force flight-attendant walked over to his seat as Feng was unbuckling the seat-belt.

“Do you need anything, General?”

Feng looked up at the pretty face standing next to his seat and smiled. The young lieutenant standing next to him had said General.

And he was one now. A Lieutenant-General to be exact. The war had been brutal on the senior leadership of the Chinese military as well. Something that had come as quite a shock and surprise to most of the concerned men. So many Generals had either been killed or dismissed from their positions during the war for ineptitude, incompetence and even bad-luck that the upper echelons had become streamlined with relatively younger men.

And so in the immediate post-war months, Feng had found himself awarded the rank at which he had anyway been working all that time at the Junwei-Kongjun in Beijing. General Chen had been promoted to commander of the PLAAF a few months before as Wencang had moved to the position of Defense-Minister under the newly constituted politburo. Wencang had been the de-facto president for over two years at that point. He had taken that time to streamline the upper-command structure of the armed forces. People such as Feng had moved up the chain far more quickly while others had found themselves removed.

It had made the PLAAF a leaner, meaner force.

“No, thank you. Just my coat.” Feng said with a smile that disappeared along with the departing flight-attendant. He got up from his seat just as the aircraft came to a halt on the tarmac and the engine turbines began spooling down. The lieutenant returned with his coat which he put on and buttoned as he walked down to the door. The Lieutenant-Colonel piloting the aircraft stepped out from the cockpit up front in his flight-suit and saluted him. Feng casually returned the favor and nodded before taking his official cap. He stepped through the open door on to the staircase and looked around. The smell of aviation fuel was in the air. The small red-carpet was out. So was the honor-guard near the base of the staircase. And a little distance away the base commander and the Divisional commander were standing on the concrete.
Feng walked down the stairs even as he glanced at the two brand-new KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft and two KJ-200 EW aircraft opposite the lines of spanking new H-6Ks from the 36TH Bomber Division: another unit that had handled itself well during the war.

“General,” the base-commander said as he walked forward to greet Feng. They walked away from the honor guard and towards the two parked SUVs. A few moments later they were heading towards the parked AWACS aircraft, the sunlight glinting off the shiny new paint…
Feng smiled. He turned to the Division commander and the base commander sitting next to him:
“Good job getting these aircraft out so quickly. What’s the status on the rest of them?”

“Progressing as per schedule.”
“Excellent,” Feng nodded. “I want the new crews practicing operations on these aircraft right away. I will get whatever clearances you need for the exercises. Make it as real as possible and incorporate all the changes in doctrine we talked about earlier. Understood?”
“Yes sir.”

“When are you moving to Chengdu?” the base-commander replied.

“Soon. Still have a lot of training and production work to put into effect before I leave Beijing. Too many things going on that require my constant attention. I still have to check out the three new production lines for the Long-Swords that seem to be having some trouble maintain the constant stream of output we had demanded from them. They will fix that or I will have heads rolling.” Feng turned and gave the commander a cruel smile.

“One other thing.” Feng said and then fished into his pocket and removed the shoulder patch. He looked at it one last time before handing it to the new commander of the reconstituted 26TH Air Division. “This was given to me by the former deputy-commander of this unit just after the war. Take care of it within your unit. Show it to the new officers to remind them of the sacrifices made by this unit in defense of the motherland. It will keep their blood boiling while we recover from this shameful pit.”

The Division commander looked at the patch in Feng’s hand in silence and took it from him, examining the embroidery as the jeeps turned towards the parked aircraft.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

B.B.C. RADIO BROADCAST
02 MARCH + 2030 HRS


BEGIN TRANSMISSION// “…and continuing coverage on the terrorist attack on the police station south of Kashgar blamed on Muslim extremists by the regional Chinese military commander. These attacks have expanded in the past couple of years as militants are beginning to move into remote regions of southwestern China from neighboring northeastern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the lawless northern provinces of northern Pakistan. The suicide attack aimed at the armed-police barracks reportedly claimed the lives of a dozen police officers and thirteen civilians.

“Here to discuss these recent spate of increasing violence in the region is our resident expert on military operations in the region, Ian Sharp. As a reminder to our listeners, Ian was one of the few foreign journalists inside Bhutan during the time of the horrendous nuclear explosions three years ago. He was on the ground and reported first-hand to our listeners and viewers worldwide as the war between India and China went nuclear with devastating consequences to both sides. Since the war, Ian has spent time analyzing the aftereffects of the war in the subcontinent, the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in 2016 and the fall of the Afghan government that happened a few months ago.

“So Ian, what do you make of this recent spate of attacks in these remote western regions of China? Predictable?”
“Oh absolutely. The withdrawal of the United States forces from Afghanistan and the fall of the government in Kabul is basically fueling this rapidly deteriorating situation in the region. And it has only been exasperated by the massively damaging war between India and China: the two nations most people expected to be the bulwark against the rising Islamic extremism in the region. The attack on the police-barracks today, for example, is something that is only likely to increase now that the extremists know that China has been so fatally weakened by its war with India.”

“So you think there is a connection with the increasing spate of terrorist attacks in India since last year?”
“No doubt about it. Pakistan has been the real benefactor from the war between the two Asian giants. The withdrawal of the Americans to their west and the weakened Indian armed forces to the east currently occupied in sealing the recently resolved border issues with the bitterly wary Beijing has allowed Pakistan to really flex its muscles in Afghanistan.”

“But Islamabad denies any help to the Taliban when they started moving into Afghanistan after the American withdrawal.”
“And we can expect them to continue. The point is that with the Taliban expanding themselves yet again into Afghanistan and into the western tips of China in the past few months, Pakistan has been afforded breathing space to clean house, as it were.”

“What is India’s reaction to all this, Ian?”

“The Indian Prime-Minister is still adamant on attempting to develop peaceful ties with not only Islamabad but also Beijing. He is still riding high on popular support for what many in the country see as his role in defeating the Chinese military threat during the war. But these recent months have seen that popularity drop in the face of increasing terror attacks within the country from an increasingly confident Pakistan. But the dismissal of the Indian Defense-Minister Chakri from his cabinet soon after the war signaled to many that the Indian Prime-Minister was once again looking for peace with his neighbors.”

“What about Beijing’s response to these spate of attacks south of Kashgar? Surely the Chinese are not going to let that just happen?”
“Indeed. We can expect a completely hardline response from the newly constituted CMC in Beijing as they try to establish their control over the region following two years of uncertainty at the end of the war with India. In fact, just this morning there were unconfirmed reports that convoys of wheeled armored vehicles were seen arriving at Kashgar from the northeast and that the PLAAF has established control for all operations out of the airbase in the city. Beijing is not going to take this rising threat from Islamic extremism lightly.”

“General Wencang was certainly clear on that this morning, wasn’t he? We will certainly be keeping an eye on the region in the coming days and weeks. Well, that is all the time we have for this discussion. We hope to see you back here, Ian. But I understand you are heading to the middle-east soon. What are the…”
//END BROADCAST
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

AYNI MILITARY AIRBASE
DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN
11TH MARCH + 1300 HRS


“Roger tower, Tusker-two is on finals.”

Brigadier Thomas overheard the radio traffic from the cockpit via the headphones. As the air-force crew up in the cabin ahead brought the C-17 on final approach to the runway, he heard the flaps lowering and the whistling rumble of the engines distinctly becoming louder. The aircraft shuddered a few seconds later as the rear undercarriage of the aircraft began rolling. The cabin lowered a bit as the front nose-wheel touched and the four engines went into full reverse thrust. The deceleration was significant and Thomas was pushed against the other soldiers sitting inside as the aircraft quickly ate up its forward momentum. A minute after that they were rolling down the taxiway.

Thomas smiled a bit as he wondered why this experience was so new to him.

First time on the C-17…a voice said to him. And he found himself asking why he had never gotten around to doing that before. The Indian Air-Force had originally used the C-17s in live operations during the war with China three years ago. They had been involved alongside the venerable Il-76MDs in hauling cargo and equipment from major airbases in northern and central India to frontline airbases in Laddakh and the east. They had even participated alongside the No. 44 Squadron Il-76s in the Para-drop of Thomas’s former unit over the Chumbi valley in the final days of that war.

After the war, the utility of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster and the follow on orders had been quick to follow. The IAF now operated a total of sixteen C-17s out of Hindon and Nagpur airbases while the remaining handful of operational Il-76s were now solely under No. 25 Squadron at Chandigarh. The war had sapped the life out of the IAF transport fleet. Especially the legacy Russian aircraft already long in the tooth. More than two weeks of continuous intensive operations had absorbed the majority of the remaining flight hours and spares for not just the Il-76s but also the An-32s. The latter were now being supplanted with more C-130Js following the end of the war and in the last two years the Hercules force numbered at eighteen aircraft. A far cry from the six available to the force during the war.

But back then Thomas had stuck with the Il-76 as his aircraft to jump out of over the Chumbi valley. It had been familiar to him. Everything felt as though he had done it a hundred times over. Right down to the smell of the airframe metal!

Three years on, he could see the utility of the Globemaster force in Indian colors. Between the Hercules and these aircraft, the IAF strategic transport fleet had become one of the largest in Asia outside of the USAF. And more to the point, it allowed New-Delhi to do the kind of action that Thomas now found himself involved in…

The aircraft halted on the tarmac and everybody inside the cabin began unbuckling themselves, Thomas included. The air-force warrant-officer walked past their seats while speaking into his headphone speaker, pressed close to his mouth with one hand. Thomas heard the rumble a few moments later as the rear ramp of the aircraft began lowering and the bright sunlight of Tajikistan rushed in, making him squint for a brief moment. The sun was reflecting off the concrete tarmac and lighting up the cavernous interior of the fully packed cabin of the C-17.

Thomas had to walk past the stacks of equipment and supplies stored inside the aircraft as he and his fellow Army officers walked past towards the rear of the aircraft. The warrant-officer walked off the ramp and was checking the sides of the aircraft when Thomas stepped off, looking around the place.

Ayni was as busy as ever. But not with Tajik military activity but with the US forces. Thomas heard the cacophony of aircraft noises as a USAF C-17 rolled down the taxiway to the end of the runway. Another such aircraft was parked alongside the Indian one, with forklifts rolling on the tarmac taking packed equipment to the rear bays of the aircraft. Thomas also saw three US Army Blackhawk helicopters dismantled and ready to be shipped on board the USAF aircraft out of Tajikistan. The activity amongst the US soldiers and airmen at the base was hectic bur organized…

“Yes. They are not waiting around,” a voice said near to Thomas.
He turned and saw Air-Vice-Marshal Verma walking up to him in his blue air-force uniform. Thomas smiled and saluted, which Verma returned.
“Their war is over in Afghanistan,” Thomas nodded over to the parked Blackhawks, which were especially well kitted out compared to the standard versions of that type. “Special Forces?”

“About the only units that stayed here to help train the Tajiks,” Verma replied, “but even that is coming to an end now. Come on.” He waved Thomas over as both men began walking towards the terminal building, filled with US Army soldiers with their backpacks stowed, sitting on the ground while their rides out of the country were being arranged…

But while the US forces were leaving the country, the Indian military training team was only now beginning to arrive.

The war with China had opened other options for New-Delhi. Despite Beijing’s denials, the world had seen their war in the Himalayas and the defeat inflicted by the Indians in the mountains. The two Divisions that had surrendered to Thomas’s paratroopers had returned about six months after the war had ended, providing ample opportunity for the world’s media to present their faces to the world. And while it almost certainly doomed these men upon their arrival back home, the world had absorbed the true scale of what had happened. And New-Delhi’s prestige had grown. Especially in Asia and somewhat more in states like Mongolia and Tajikistan that also shared borders with remote regions of China.

Specifically in Tajikistan, with the US forces withdrawing from Afghanistan and the increasingly belligerent Taliban forces to the south, the situation had worsened significantly. The Badakhshan mountains in eastern Tajikistan offered a clear route to the vulnerable western regions of Xinjiang to the Mujahedeen warriors intent on taking their fight to what they perceived to be weakened Chinese control following the war with India. These Islamic radicals were riding high on their confidence with the withdrawal of US forces from the region and the virtual collapse of the Kabul government over the last year. Borders really meant little to them in these mountains of the Hindu Kush and Badakhshan…

Of course, that is where New-Delhi got involved. Ever since Islamic militant violence had begun gripping the region around Kashgar, many within the Indian establishment had suggested that the situation should be allowed to fester, sapping Chinese strength and keeping their attention away from the defeat against India. This also suited the Pakistan policy of the government since Indian presence in Tajikistan had been deemed as destabilizing the peace talks between the two countries.
The Mujahedeen had other ideas, however.

With their ever increasing presence in the Badakhshan mountains, the Tajik control over the region was destabilizing. The US assistance to training the Tajik ground forces had proven insufficient and Pakistan was taking every effort in routing the holy warriors towards Xinjiang via Tajikistan in order to relieve pressure on its northern frontier regions. Many of these Mujahedeen forces within the southeastern Badakhshan region were also spilling over into Pakistan controlled Kashmir as they prepared to divert attention to India at some point in the future. The Indian Aerospace Command Satellites had spotted what were clearly supply depots dotting the mountains on the routes between Gilgit and Badakhshan over the past few weeks.

Needless to say, this could not be allowed to continue and General Potgam, promoted as the Indian Army commander in early February had quickly moved on this problem. He had coerced the Prime-Minister into releasing more funds and resources to building up the Tajik forces and government control in the Badakhshan region. This had been something the Dushanbe government had been begging for over two years after the end of the war with China. But in the immediate aftermath of the war there was little interest in New-Delhi for more aggressive action in far off regions when so much rebuilding and reorganizing remained to be done on the home front. General Potgam had realized quickly enough what an utter oversight that had been. Soon after he and Ravoof had convinced the PM to pay attention to the Tajikistan situation, he had called up Brigadier Thomas from his post as the deputy commander of SOCOM operations to make a trip to Tajikistan and ascertain how bad the situation really was…

“How are the Tajiks holding to the east?” Thomas asked as he and Verma walked past a parked BTR wheeled armored-personnel-carrier of the Tajik military. He saw the handful of Tajik army soldiers relaxing under the vehicle and playing cards and shook his head. Verma’s answer was pretty much what he was expecting: a grunt.
“There is no Tajik military presence out there!” Verma said as they got into the car waiting to take them to the newly built-up Indian embassy in Dushanbe, a dozen kilometers away. “As our American friends would say: it’s the wild-west out there. The Mujahids are in virtual control of the mountains.”

“So what the hell are we supposed to do then?” Thomas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“For now,” Verma said as he leaned into his seat as the vehicle convoy drove off, “we are focusing on gathering intelligence on both the Jihadis as well as the PLA light-infantry units deploying southwest of Kashgar. They are moving in hard and heavy against the Islamic threat to their border regions.”

“Wencang doesn’t fool around, does he?” Thomas said offhandedly. But it was true. General Wencang had established solid military control over China over the past three years. Only recently had the newly reorganized politburo taken over control of the country. Even then, he had been pulled back into the loop as Defense-Minister and official commander of all Chinese military forces and operations. More to the point, the man was an open minded, yet ruthless, military professional. He was by no means a communist zealot and certainly not clouded by ideology in his pursuit of effectiveness and lethality within the Chinese military. He had culled from its ranks the party loyals, the incompetent and the corrupt and had brought in consummate professionals like General Chen as commander of the air-force. The recently promoted Lieutenant-General Feng had taken over the Lanzhou-Chengdu unified-MRAF: a name harking back to the previous war that still gave the Indian air-force planners the chills.

The Islamic extremism problem in Xinjiang was likely to be the proving ground for a lot of their command-and-control improvements and the Indian military knew this. It was yet another reason to keep an eye on things in the region…

“No he certainly does not,” Verma replied after a few seconds. “At this point, looking at how the Tajik government control to the east is crumbling, I am not sure whether we should hope that Wencang takes care of this problem or that it consumes him. If he does take care of the problem efficiently, he’s likely to turn back to us with a bone to pick.”
“And if he doesn’t,” Thomas concluded, “the region becomes a breeding ground for the bearded warriors and the Badakhshan-Kashgar axis reorients itself south, towards Kashmir. Those are our only two choices?”

Verma laughed grimly. “That is the deck of cards we have been dealt, my friend.”

Thomas mumbled some adjectives and looked at the brown-white mountains visible to the southeast: the starting point of the Badakhshan region. Verma looked at him glancing thoughtfully out of the side-glass.

“Yup. Welcome to Tajikistan.”
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

WEST OF THE TOWN OF TASHKURGAN
CHINESE BORDER WITH TAJIKISTAN
17TH MARCH + 0630 HRS


Captain Wenji checked his watch after seeing the dark reddish skies becoming lighter, silhouetting the mountains to the east. He yawned and walked back to his office inside the armed-police headquarters. Closing the door behind him, he removed his uniform coat and hung it from the back of the door before walking over to his desk to see the documents and communiqués that had come in over the night. His communications people on the night-shift would normally leave the non-priority messages on his desk prior to leaving for their sleep. And today was no different.

Wenji picked up the top most paper on the pile and glanced through the contents. He grunted and nodded as he reached the bottom of that page. The first elements of the rapid reaction brigade of the 6TH Motorized Infantry Division would be transiting through the town in thirty-six hours. Or so the paper said, he reminded himself. In reality, given the mountainous terrain, they might take a bit longer than that. He checked the back page of the document and found nothing suggesting where these forces were going. But that was not hard to guess…

The border with Tajikistan was a mess at the moment. Almost as bad as Beijing’s control over this remote region so far from mainland China. The PLA enforced the rule of law out here in conjunction with the armed police regiments. At any given time the number of PLA Divisions in Xinjiang were far more than required to enforce that not only was there no disruption to Chinese authority from the local population, but also that the borders with the central Asian nations to the west remained sealed. This had crippled all resistance to Chinese authority in the region over the decades.

More or less…Wenji reminded himself as he put the paper away and picked up the stack of cigarettes laying on the table.

Yes. There had been no major resistance for quite a few years. But that status quo had changed with the war against India three years ago and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Tajikistan with handover to the local allied forces. The “local allied forces”, of course, meant the Afghan National Army and the Tajik forces in conjunction with the Russian forces in Tajikistan. And they hadn’t held up against the resurgent Taliban forces assisted in their jihad by tacit Pakistanis support.

So following the war with India, the local PLA Divisions in Xinjiang had been mauled by deadly combat in the Laddakh mountains against the Indian Army and Afghanistan and Tajikistan were teetering on their edge. This weakened state of the national governments in the region had provided the exact breeding ground for the Mujahedeen to begin taking their fight back to the Kashmir and India, but also north against Russia and east to Xinjiang…

Wenji knew from personal experience over the last two years what and who he was up against in the mountains west from the town. The attacks had started roughly a year after the war with India ended. First there were the smaller ambushes and raids against the far flung PLA posts in the mountains near the Tajik border. To this Wenji’s parent force, the 7TH Division of the People’s Armed Police (7TH PAPD), had responded by sending out more patrols and reinforcing these remote border posts. That hadn’t helped. The jihadists had come back with an ever larger force every time they had been beaten back. Casualties had been inflicted on both sides in the initial months of these operations. And for the most part, the PLA regional commanders felt that these attacks were contained to the border.

Well, that estimate turned out wrong…Wenji grunted again as he let out a puff of smoke from the lit cigarette and walked to the window overlooking the mountains to the east and first rays of sunlight penetrating the valley.

The Mujahedeen had changed tactics soon thereafter and moved away from frontal attacks against these border posts to what had worked effectively in the past: improvised roadside explosives and hit-and-run ambushes against soft convoys moving along Highway-314 that moved in this valley through the town on the way south to Pakistan.

And these tactics had made the enemy hard to find and forced the 7TH Division to spread out its forces to strategic points along the highway. They had been like this for months now. And the situation was tenuous. These mountains were soaking up Wenji’s men and equipment trying to protect every single avenue to the town whilst also protecting convoys on the highway moving north to Kashgar. He needed more men and equipment.

But help was not easy to provide, as he had been told once too many times by his regiment commander. Following the war with India, the PLA forces in the region had spent months licking their wounds. Whole brigades had been decimated in the fighting in the Laddakh mountains and entire columns of vehicles had been hit and destroyed between there and Kashgar. Wenji remembered this well. He had just arrived for his posting here at Tashkurgan when the war with India had been raging in full flow. He had heard the thunder of jets above the town and had even seen a few times the aircraft streaking above the peaks. Kashgar airport had been hit during the war, and that was something he knew only too well. His colleagues had been in Kashgar and had spent time helping the PLAAF garrison there in cleaning up after the attacks. He had heard through them the devastation caused by the attacks.

And then there were other ways he heard about the war as well. Columns of tanks and armored vehicles had moved down this very road to the south during the war. He had never been told where they were going or even coming from, but then again, a young lieutenant was almost always at the bottom of the barrel in the PLA as in every other army in the world. He was only told what should concern him. And the decision on what should concern him was not left up to him. But he had kept his eyes and ears open. He had seen the long columns of trucks carrying wounded men back to the north. Many had even been admitted into the hospitals here. He had visited the hospital once, and had been horrified to see the wounds, the blood and the missing limbs of the men being driven in from the south. He had almost thrown up at the sight and had left the hospital in a hurry.

He sighed as the memory of that day came back to him.
Three years…he thought as he crushed the cigarette stub into the ashtray on the desk. Might as well have been yesterday!

Today he was a Captain and had seen combat of very different kind than his brethren within the army. To all the horror and chaos of that war with India, there had been some brutal order to the killings and the destruction. Some sense of…honor, perhaps?

Honor. He scowled. There was no ‘honor’ in that hospital ward!

But it was something resembling that, he admitted to himself with a slight nod. Compared with fighting the Mujahedeen, it had certainly been honorable…
The first sounds of shots fired from outside the compound rang out in his office and Wenji jerked from his seat hard enough for it to fall back on the concrete floor. He was frozen there for a couple of seconds as his senses tried to understand what had just transpired.

Then another burst erupted and this time was followed by one of his men shouting something. Then there another sustained burst and his trained ears picked up the sounds of Kalashnikov assault-rifles. Then he heard the distant, yet chilling war-cry of the attackers:

Allah-o-Akbar!

We are under attack! He thought to himself and ran around the desk over to the office door just as the gunfire noises erupted all over the compound along with the screams and shouts from his men there. He ran over the office door and outside into the main offices to see his men running about, grabbing rifles from the armory just somebody shouted a warning and an explosion ripped through one of the distant walls of the compound, filling the compound inside with a cloud of dust and smoke…

Wenji ran over to the armory and saw his abruptly awoken men still in their civilian dresses grabbing the QBZ-95 rifles from the wall rack. One of them saw Wenji and tossed him a rifle which he took and picked up three of the ammunition clips from a crate nearby before running out, giving orders to his men to deploy and take cover near the windows and doors.

He ran over to the staircase and up the stairs to the flat roof of the administration building followed by a two more of his men. The first rays of sunlight were lighting up the valley and the sky above had yet to shed its darkness completely. But the flashes of gunfire were lighting up everything in the compound below. He saw his men running in the compound being mowed down by sustained and heavy burst of rifle fire from the opening created in the concrete compound wall by what he realized was satchel explosives. As two more of his men in the compound below screamed under bullet hits and fell on the dust covered ground, Wenji brought his rifle up to shoulder level and fired three-round bursts towards the location where he had seen the muzzle flashes within the smoke. On his third burst he heard a muffled scream and one of the Mujahedeen fell to the ground, his AK-47 still firing in full automatic mode as he fell, a dead man’s grip on the trigger. His stray bullets took down one of his colleagues running past him and he landed on his face into the dirt, his life already squeezed out before the impact with the ground…

Wenji turned his attention to the side and continued firing bursts along with the rest of his men. Several of the attackers went down under sustained return fire from the Chinese soldiers. Wenji’s ears picked out the volume of fire being exchanged from the noises and realized his men had become organized now and had overcome the element of surprise from the enemy. He turned to face the other two men just as three more of his soldiers ran up the stairs to the roof.

You three!” Wenji shouted at the new arrivals as they looked over to him. “Take the other side!”

He then turned back over the edge but continued giving orders: “Keep firing! I want fire-superiority against the enemy! Leave none of them alive! I…” He stopped midsentence as he saw a Mujahedeen running past the dust and smoke near the hole in the compound wall towards the building. He was not carrying any weapons, however…

A suicide bomber…Wenji realized as he aimed for the man and fired a three round burst. It hit the bearded man in his knees and chest and he fell on his knees, blood pouring out of the corner of his mouth as stay there stunned, looking at Wenji on the roof above. Wenji cursed the weapon he was carrying and its ineffective stopping power against these zealots. He realized that he should have picked up a Kalashnikov instead of the QBZ-95. He looked over the sights of the rifle and saw the murderous zeal in his opponents eyes still there on the ground below. He aimed to fire another round into his chest. But the same split second he pulled the trigger, the holy warrior’s body exploded in a massive explosion, ripping through the compound and the walls of the admin building…

When his eyes opened, Wenji found himself coughing for breath as the dust cleared. He could see rays of sunlight slicing through the dust cloud as a few of his men staggered in the rubble of the building. He found himself dazed and struggling to get on his knees.

But a bloodcurdling cry from one of his men followed by a burst of AK-47 fire that silenced the scream reminded him that they had been overrun. He saw several of the Mujahedeen running past his men, firing bursts of fire at whoever was still moving and taking their weapons, radios and ammunition.

No…Wenji tried to speak but a kick sent in rolling in the rubble below. He turned on his back and saw a bearded Arabic looking face with a Kalashnikov pointed at his face. The man spoke broken Mandarin that he had probably rehearsed for just this moment:

“Listen very carefully to me, Chinese officer,” the man said as he put aside the AK-47 and kneeled next to Wenji. “This is our land. First it was the Russians who fell. Then the Americans. And now its China’s turn to leave these lands to those to whom Allah has given it. I will kill you here today as a reminder to your brothers that this is what awaits them. And if the Chinese army wishes to come here, it will die just like you and your men have done today.”

Wenji tried saying something but only spattered blood from his mouth instead. As other Mujahedeen ran past, carrying the weapons from the other dead Chinese soldiers, both men heard the sounds of helicopters overhead.

“Looks like your comrades have arrived,” the man said as he got up on his feet and looked down at Wenji, still looking dazed and disoriented. “But they are too late.”
He unslung his AK-47 and the last thing Wenji saw was the barrel of the Russian weapon pointed at his face before a single shot ran out and he slumped lifeless into the rubble. The bearded man slung his rifle as he looked at the lifeless body.

“Allah-o-Akbar.” He uttered silently before running back out to join his men as they made their break back towards the mountains to the west.

God was indeed great.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

THE INDIAN EMBASSY BUILDING
DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN
18TH MARCH + 0730 HRS


Brigadier Thomas climbed up the stairs and on to the flat-terraced roof of the building recently constructed on the embassy compound. He took in a breath of the cold air and let it out in a visible puff just as a hazy-red morning sun rose above the hills east of the capital city. He looked around and found nobody else on the roof to enjoy such a view. He sighed and shook his head in understanding: he was new to this country and had been here only for a week. He felt more like a tourist than a military commander.
Besides, there was little to command out here.

The offices of the small nucleus of Indian military officers posted to Tajikistan was based in this building. It was also now the center for whatever expansion New-Delhi wanted for its military presence here. With that thought the smile on Thomas’s face went away as he stared long and hard at the eastern mountains…
How long before the jihadis rolled down from there on to this city?

“Beautiful sight, isn’t it?”
Thomas turned around to see Colonel Shivanna walking up to the ledge behind him. Shivanna was the Army liaison officer to the embassy, and had been here in this capacity for close to a year. Thomas returned the salute and extended his hands with a smile:
“Yes indeed, Shiv! You come up here often?”

Shivanna shook his head with a smile. “I used to, sir. But once you have seen over a hundred of these, they stop appealing as much.”
“A gentle way of reminding a newcomer about his inexperience!” Thomas chuckled and turned back to face the mountains to the east. His face became serious just then. “Any further news on the attack on the Chinese police forces in Tashkurgan yesterday?”

“Negative, sir.” Shivanna said as he too joined Thomas and laid his hand on the frost covering the ledge wall. “All we know is that eighteen Chinese policemen and six police and PLA officers were killed in the assault and twelve others were left badly wounded. The PLA’s rapid-reaction forces were quick to respond and had helicopters on the site within minutes of the assault, but it wasn’t quick enough. The mujahedeen had looted most of the weapons and ammunition from the post and the dead soldiers and melted into the mountains east of the town. The PLA is supposedly in hot pursuit within the mountains there, but they haven’t made much progress so far.”

“It was a well-planned and coordinated assault by the mujahedeen on that police post.” Thomas said as he let out a thoughtful sigh. After a few seconds of silence, he gestured his left arm to the eastern mountains. “They probably planned it out from the Badakhshan region somewhere. Which is not good for the Tajiks in the long term or the short one. At the very least it shows how capable these operators are within Tajik territory and at worst is likely to bring the PLA rolling across the border in hot pursuit of these jihadis. Wencang is rolling in hard and heavy on these cross border raids.”

Thomas squinted as the first rays of sunlight finally rose above the peaks and covered the walls of the embassy buildings with a dull orange-yellow light. He turned away and patted Shivanna as they walked towards the staircase on the other corner of the roof.

“Tell me about our Russian friends out here and what their plans are for the Badakhshan mountains.” Thomas ordered as he grabbed the rails and walked down the stairs into the offices on the second floor. Shivanna was two steps behind him.

“Major-General Aleksandr Dubovoi is the current man in charge of the 201ST Motorized Division,” Shivanna said as he closed the staircase door behind him and both men removed the heavy jackets they were wearing. Thomas handed his coat to the orderly waiting there for them and then turned to Shivanna:
“Dubovoi has a very good operational record from Chechnya, doesn’t he? I presume he was specifically selected for this job by Moscow?”

“His record is a ruthless one if you ask me, sir.” Shivanna said with a slight dismissive nod. “His tactics are heavy handed and they worked in Chechnya only because Moscow doesn’t really have much love for the Chechens. This is Tajikistan and he will have to tread much lighter with his tanks if he wants any Russian presence left in the country once he gets done.”
Thomas raised an eyebrow in surprise: “Tanks in the mountains against Mujahedeen? That’s a tactic that hasn’t worked in a while now, has it?”

“No it hasn’t,” Shivanna replied. “But Dubovoi likes the impact value of his armored columns on the local citizenry. Besides, he only keeps his armored forces in the plains. He is one of the products of the digested lessons of Afghanistan.” Thomas smiled at that. He then nodded to the Colonel as they made their way to the mess hall for breakfast.

“And what does he have to say about our gradually growing presence out here?” Thomas asked as they walked into the large room lined with long dinner tables covered in white cloth and cutlery.
“Nothing good. On the face of it he welcomes his new Indian partners in Tajikistan. But off the record he is very clear about his views. And the main theme of which is that Tajikistan has been under Russian sphere of influence for the past twenty years and will continue to do so as long as he is still in command of Russian forces here.”

“Sphere of influence? Still stuck in the last century, isn’t he? His exact words?” Thomas said in surprise as they took their seats at the table and the waiters walked about putting various breakfast items before them.

“Yes. At least according to his aide-de-camp after a few rounds of drinks.” Shivanna said as he took some toast from the plate in front of him. Thomas chuckled at that and looked at the Colonel. It reminded him how far he had come from the glory days of the front lines.
“After a few drinks? You all socialize with the Russian officers here?”
“Oh yes, very frequently in fact.” Shivanna said offhandedly. “We usually have some event or the other hosted by either the Russian embassy or by our Ambassador here and we get to meet our Russian counterparts. Very informal and very informative!”

“I prefer the life at the front lines any day to this!” Thomas said as he shook his head and turned his attention to the food on his plate. Shivanna smiled but kept his thoughts to himself.
“Anyway, coming back to the issue on hand,” Thomas said after his first bite of the eggs, “when are we meeting with Dubovoi and his staff here in Dushanbe?”
“Later today, sir. In his office at the Russian embassy. Expect to get a lot of hearing to about Indian expansionism here in Tajikistan and how its drawing the wrong kind of attention from Pakistan and so on.”

“‘Wrong kind of attention from Pakistan’?” Thomas echoed and then grunted. “What does that even mean? When has Pakistan offered anything resembling good intentions to any of their neighbors? Their tacit pats on the back of the mujahedeen is exactly why we are in Tajikistan in the first place! Afghanistan went south so fast after the American withdrawal that there was not much we or anybody could do to shore them up against the Taliban. But Moscow, Beijing and New-Delhi will not stand by as Tajikistan is swallowed up by the Islamic fighters as well. Such a deep staging area close to Kashmir is asking for trouble for us! And as the PLA found out yesterday, so it is for them in Xinjiang. If the Russians want to be the ones to root out the mujahedeen in the Badakhshan mountains, so be it. I have no particular desire to recommend sending our boys in there. But if they fail, there is nothing stopping the Mujahedeen from rolling down the mountains here to Dushanbe. And that’s not acceptable. New-Delhi feels that we need to establish our presence here to help train the Tajik forces to stand up to the enemy. And that’s what we will do.”

For now.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_24793 »

Keep it coming Vivek sir. Jai Hind
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by nachiket »

Vivek, any updates on the plans for a Kindle version?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_26730 »

HI,

PIMS-XII was very good.Ending a bit abrupt but very nice.It seemed as you predicted future 3 years back.
I remember googling Indo-china future wars when I saw the post (I was still in college),Now after 2-3 years it happened in almost same manner.
As an author you are very skilled,I must say especially with topics close to heart. I saw the thread 2 years back and at that time it was not complete,and had to leave it in middle,I went back to it after the recent border issue.

IMO,PIMS-XIII engages India and China at much bigger theater in near future.
It would be very interesting if we shift from the very eye catching ballistic missile attacks(plz do not confuse..It was very interesting ) to more covert SF operations.You used Para SF in previous scenario but kind of in conventional role except the LRR team (Pathanya's team)...and possibly to greater extent in Tibet.
What about their usage with close integration with intel agencies.Our guys pitted against chinese intel.I have seen our covert boys splattered across all newspapers but the Chinese are very secretive.

They would use Maoist to a great extent when the time comes.ISI has very deep roots within maoists. They will provide their assets to Chinese readily at right price.Maybe their jihadist assets too,some may point out that china has its own jihadi issues and they will not collaborate with them,but they have done in past..They bought unexploded Tomhawks from Afghanistan with Pakis help no doubt.

I believe border skirmishes with usage of Maoist-terrorist combo for in depth sabotage and other terror operation is a very distinct possibility.

Our government nodal agencies in border states can be decapitated and destroyed very easily with their usage and can hinder Military operations by attacks on supply routes and storage facilities and no doubt passage of relevant info on troop movement to enemy.I believe you used the same strategy in Tibet with us as the initiators but what if China does the same to us?Sf will then have to be used to counter such operations and will come across their SF as well.

This type of strategy may appear more appealing to enemy than engaging in missile warfare which will allow USA and Russia,Japan etc. to intervene easily.They will have their own agenda:war profits,diminishing china's influence in Asia-pacific etc.

By this post I do not want to appear condescending or anything.You are very skilled at what you do.Possibily the best future scenario vis a vis Inda-China.

But a smart enemy hits at most vulnerable point.

Maybe our so called think tank boys should recruit you.You have the potential :D

Looking forward to your posts!
Regards,
Rohan
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

nachiket wrote:Vivek, any updates on the plans for a Kindle version?
Yes there are. I have submitted the draft of the Kindle version to Amazon for editing. A couple weeks and it should be out.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Sanku wrote:Vivek, how about the book sales in India? Any luck? Am still waiting for that. (Since need to buy a number of copies)

Rgds
Sanku,

Book publishing in India had to be put on hold until I get down there to personally take care of things. Trying to work remotely with the publishers from here is ridiculously painful. Half the time I can't even seem to get a response back in time until I push them to do stuff. Finally lost patience after trying for a couple months and decided to get down there locally and take care of stuff.

Apologies for the delayed response. Don't know how I missed your comment above.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by nachiket »

vivek_ahuja wrote:
nachiket wrote:Vivek, any updates on the plans for a Kindle version?
Yes there are. I have submitted the draft of the Kindle version to Amazon for editing. A couple weeks and it should be out.

-Vivek
Great news! Now get back to writing Fenix. :evil: :mrgreen:
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Ajit.C »

Vivekji, awaiting for your next post. Its overdue. :D
member_26730
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_26730 »

Waiting................................................... :((
member_24793
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_24793 »

Vivek Sir,

Waiting for your next post of Fenix. Any news?

Jai Hind,
Venkatesh
Yagnasri
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Yagnasri »

Where is Shankar sir??? No post for a long time
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by jamwal »

Yeah. It's been quite a while.

US withdrawing from Afghanistan, Japan, China flexing military muscle, Indian elections, all this makes for some juicy stories which he wrote well
karadi
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by karadi »

Hi All,

I followed Vivek Sir's stories over the bharat-rakshak forum and over his blog site. However, it abruptly stopped and I could not follow it as I didn't find the continuation for the war. Is there any place that i can brush up on the entire story of the previous scenario.

regards

kaRadi
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by hpatel »

Hi Vivek, Shankar, etc,
Waiting anxiously ...
:-)
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Gentlemen,

After a bunch of hassle, the kindle eBook version of Chimera is now available: Chimera eBook

I will also be releasing the appendix to it in electronic format shortly which will have maps, ORBATs etc. used in the original work.

For India based readers, the ebook is available at: Chimera eBook in India

And the hard copy has reached the Indian website for Amazon but is showing up as "currently unavailable". I am looking into that. That link is here: Chimera Indian hard copies

Image

Hopefully BRF front page will have some details/reviews of the book shortly with Jagan and Rakesh's help.

Finally, just FYI: Looks like the book has received a lot of interest within the amrikhan think tanks here. Got specific request for details on the simulations work done for it. 8)

Will post details and updates on "Fenix" as well.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by RamaY »

vivek_ahuja wrote: Finally, just FYI: Looks like the book has received a lot of interest within the amrikhan think tanks here. Got specific request for details on the simulations work done for it. 8)
-Vivek
Congratulations Vivekji.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Folks,

I am looking for a small favor: I am attempting to get a few BRF folks to do some technical-quality reviews for Chimera so that I can reference it for the BRF main page site and perhaps even the amazon sites. If you would be interested in doing this, please email me at vivek_ahuja123 at yahoo dot com

Thanks!

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by rohitvats »

vivek_ahuja wrote:Folks,

I am looking for a small favor: I am attempting to get a few BRF folks to do some technical-quality reviews for Chimera so that I can reference it for the BRF main page site and perhaps even the amazon sites. If you would be interested in doing this, please email me at vivek_ahuja123 at yahoo dot com

Thanks!

-Vivek
Chief, what exactly does technical review mean? Thanks.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by disha »

vivek_ahuja wrote:Folks,

I am looking for a small favor: I am attempting to get a few BRF folks to do some technical-quality reviews for Chimera so that I can reference it for the BRF main page site and perhaps even the amazon sites. If you would be interested in doing this, please email me at vivek_ahuja123 at yahoo dot com

Thanks!

-Vivek
Vivek, you already have 31 reviews on Amazon. You can start taking parts of those review and quote them. Are there any specific areas where you would like to have an input, or any areas those reviews did not cover, feel free to drop here and I am sure the BRF community will provide it (all fair reviews only :-) )
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