CDS Bipin Rawat on Afghanistan situation: Expressing concern over Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat on Wednesday assured that any possible terrorist activity emanating out from the war-ravaged country into India will be firmly dealt with. General Rawat asserted that India has 'contingency planning' in place.
He along with Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral John Aquilino was speaking at an interactive session "The India-US Partnership: Securing the 21st Century" organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Rawat said, "As far as Afghanistan is concerned, we'll make sure that any activity likely to flow out of Afghanistan & find its way into India will be dealt with in the manner in which we're dealing with terrorism in our country."
The Chief of Defence Staff said India is committed to ensuring a terrorist-free environment in the region.
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Talking about the Taliban resurgence in the war-torn country, Rawat said, "Everything that has happened was something that had been anticipated, only the timelines have changed. From the Indian perspective, we were anticipating the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan."
"As far as we're concerned, we're concerned about what's happening anywhere in the region. It's not just northern neighbour, even our western neighbour has nuclear weapons systems. So we're surrounded by 2 neighbours that are armed with these strategic weapons," he said.
"It is pretty much the same; it is the same Taliban that was there 20 years ago. News reports and reports from the expats who have come from there are all telling us the kind of activities the Taliban is into. All that has happened is that the partners have now changed. It is the same Taliban with different partners," Gen Rawat observed.
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