“Nehru’s frontier folly: How Bharat lost NWFP and gave Pakistan ‘strategic depth’ ”, First Post, March 10, 2026
“The latest clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan along the Durand Line have exposed the bankruptcy of Islamabad’s long-celebrated doctrine of “strategic depth”. For decades, Pakistan believed that controlling Afghanistan would give it geopolitical leverage vis-à-vis Bharat. Today that fantasy lies in tatters as Islamabad confronts hostility on the very frontier it once hoped to dominate.
Pakistan’s strategic nightmare along the Durand Line, however, only tells half the story.
Bharat’s Afghanistan policy since Independence has been no less flawed. While Pakistan tried to weaponise Afghanistan against its eastern neighbour, New Delhi responded with moralistic posturing, one-sided generosity and a total lack of geopolitical realism. Instead of realising that the Great Game was being played in the region, Bharat chose to remain indifferent and aloof. This resulted in Afghanistan gradually slipping out of Bharat’s strategic horizon, while Pakistan entrenched itself as the primary external actor shaping events there, largely aimed at hurting Delhi’s interests, especially in Jammu & Kashmir…….”
Read full article at firstpost.com
