Taliban’s Takeover Of Afghanistan And A Dire Need To Have India’s National Security Strategy

The Taliban's reconquest of Afghanistan resulted in Pakistan and China jumping into the ground to welcome the newly formed Taliban regime. This move is backed with the intent to counter any Indian presence in the region. This is a disturbing and threatening development in the geopolitics of the South Asian region. As an emerging leader in South Asia and the World alike, India stands at a precipice of navigating and controlling this rising threat from her neighbours.

These recent developments have forced India to rethink its policy towards Afghanistan. India raised its concerns about Afghan soil being used for terrorism, though the Taliban had assured India that the notorious Haqqani group, which is backed by Pak's ISI has emerged as a powerful section of their government The Haqqani group has been responsible for attacks against Indian assets in Afghanistan including an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The emerging Chinese threat has brought states together. The recent QUAD summit in the United States focused on global peace and partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, with PM Modi stressing peace in the Indo-Pacific region at the QUAD summit and his speech at the UNGA. As an Asian power, India is missing out on a comprehensive National Security Strategy (NSS). This article traces the need and feasibility of carving an NSS out for the subcontinent.

According to the US Office of the Secretary of Defence, the NSS is a document that provides discussion on proposed uses of all facets of US power needed to achieve the nation's security goals. It is obligated to include a discussion of international interests, and commitments, along with defence capabilities necessary to deter threats and implement US security plans.

The NSS identifies a state's national interest, threats (Terrorism, Cyber threats, Non-Contact Warfare, Climate Change, Pandemics and so on) and objectives. Based on the scope of this document, a strategy is devised to deal with issues related to political, economic, internal and external security. It helps in orchestrating instruments of national power (military, economic, diplomatic) to achieve the set objectives.

Arvind Gupta, former Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) said the absence of a National Security Strategy in India is due to a lack of political consensus in the country on national security issues, including the most important external and internal security threats and challenges. According to the Ministry of Defence's 2007-2008 annual report, a draft National Security Strategy was prepared and forwarded to the National Security Adviser.

Though in elections, national security has always emerged as an important issue, minimal action and implementation have been seen by different Governments at the Centre. An attempt was made by Congress to publish a National Security Strategy in 2019, which was part of its election manifesto; it was prepared by Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retd) and it is called the 'Hooda report'. Apart from this, the political establishment has yet to see a holistic security analysis and report.

In the United Kingdom, a National Security Council was formed in 2010, and was tasked to draft a 'National Security Strategy'. The draft highlighted four key elements:

(1) The strategic context

(2) Britain's role in this context

(3) Risks to security and prioritization of risks

(4) National response to these threats.

The National Security Strategy of the US published during Donald Trump's Presidency in 2017 was based on his America First policy and was called an 'America First National Security Strategy' with four pillars i.e. (1) Protect the Homeland, the American people, and the American way of life, (2) Advance American prosperity, (3) Preserve Peace through Strength, (4) Enhance American Influence.

The document highlighted threats from North Korea, through their use of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' (WMD) and based on that, a priority action was devised to deploy a 'layered missile defence system' focusing on North Korea and Iran.

Similarly, the document also identifies 'bioweapons and pandemics' as a threat to the US and the priority action would be to detect and combat biothreats at their source and support biological innovation.

India, currently, is faced with a threat from Non-Contact Warfare and a priority action to deal with it is being devised.