In Kashmir, Military Equipment From Afghanistan Has Been Confiscated: Army Chief

Army Chief General MM Naravane said there has been an increase in incidences of Afghan military equipment being taken in Kashmir, amid fears of a fighter overflow into India after the Taliban reclaimed authority in the war-torn country.

“We had a little spillover when the previous Taliban administration was in power in Afghanistan in the early 2000s.” “We had also apprehended or killed Afghan militants (in Kashmir),” Naravane stated during the Raisina Dialogue, which was broadcast on television on Thursday.

While there has been no spillover of manpower “so far” this time, the Army chief stated that “there is obviously a tendency in that direction.”

“There is definitely an increase in the number of guns and other equipment that we are catching or uncovering, notably night-vision devices that have definitely come from Afghanistan,” Naravane added.

“That is a significant source of concern.”

In response to a query on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Naravane stated that it has prompted the rethinking of some military assumptions.

“The first assumption was that conventional conflicts are obsolete,” he added, adding that it was previously assumed that economically dependent countries did not go to war.

“We are already in the third month (of the Ukraine war),” he said, referring to another “assumption” that all battles now will be short-lived and will end when the international community intervenes.

The basic idea, according to the Army chief, is that conflicts and violence “will happen.”