CHINA AND INDIA BEEF UP BORDER FORCES
The Times of India has outlined steps China is taking to upgrade its military infrastructure along its disputed border with India. The report documents five “fully-operational airbases, an extensive rail network and over 58,000 km of roads” in Tibet, as well as a nuclear missile base in Qinghai province in central China. It is estimated that China can mass two divisions (30,000) at launch pads along the border in as little as 20 days now, far shorter than the three months it once took. In addition to the five airbases, which host advanced Sukhoi-27UBK and Sukhoi-30MKK fighters, China is upgrading other landing strips in Tibet as well.
For its part, India is beefing up its military presence at the order as well. New Delhi is in the process of adding two squadrons of Sukhoi MKI fighters at the Tezpur airbase in Assam and two squadrons at the Chabua airbase in Assam, both near a contested portion of the Sino-Indian border. New Delhi has also raised two new mountain infantry divisions (1,260 officers, 35,011 soldiers) to be based in the northeast, in Assam and Nagaland. Finally it is upgrading advanced landing grounds and helipads in the northeast and reactivating AGLs in the northwest. (Times of India March 8, 2011)
INDIA LARGEST ARMS IMPORTER OVER FIVE YEARS
Between 2006 and 2010, India was the world’s biggest importer of weapons, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Sweden-based think tank specializing in tracking arms transfers. During that period, India received nine percent of all international arms transfers, with 82% of that total coming from Russia alone. Also, nearly three-quarters of India’s imports (71%) were military aircraft. “Rivalries with Pakistan and China, as well as internal security challenges” were driving India’s arms imports, according to SIPRI expert Siemon Wezemen. The next largest importers after India were China, South Korea, and Pakistan, with U.S. still leading the export market, with 30% of total arms exports in the five year period. (Deccan Chronicle March 13, 2011)
TALIBAN FORMS UNIT TO HUNT CIA SPIES
Taliban forces based in Pakistan have organized a crack counter-intelligence team specifically designed to hunt citizens suspected of aiding the CIA predator drone campaign, which targets militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The group, named Lashkar-e-Khorasan and estimated to have 300 fighters, was formed in 2010 in North Waziristan by two militant groups allied to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and the militants under Hafiz Gul Bahadar’s command. The CIA drone campaign, one of the few tools available to the U.S. to strike militants inside Pakistan, has grown in frequency and efficiency under President Obama. Over 224 drone strikes have been reported in Pakistan’s tribal areas since 2008 and over 168 of those have taken place in North Waziristan, the primary hub of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their allies. In recent months, Lashker-e-Khorasan has been spotting and executing alleged spies with increasing frequency. (Long War Journal March 28, 2011)
THAN SHWE STEPS DOWN, SORT OF
The military-dictator who has ruled Burma for the past 19 years is stepping down, at least formally. Gen. Than Shwe, whose military junta has ruled Burma with an iron fist, will be succeeded by a protégé and confidant, Thein Sein, who will assume the presidency under a new political framework adopted in an election last November that was widely criticized as illegitimate. Under the new system, an executive president will share powers with an “elected” parliament. The military will appoint one-quarter of the representatives in the national and regional legislatures. Gen. Than Shwe has already stacked loyalists in all of the key political positions and “he has diffused power widely between the politicians, the army and businessmen [so] that he can still pull the strings without an official position,” according to one Burma-based political analyst. (Financial Times April 4, 2011)
INDIA AND PAKISTAN TO RESUME TALKS
India and Pakistan have experienced a substantive diplomatic breakthrough, agreeing to restart negotiations under a “composite dialogue” that have been suspended since Pakistani-based terrorists killed 166 people in Mumbai in November, 2008. The two were able to broach their impasse when Pakistan agreed to allow Indian investigators into Pakistan for the first time to pursue their investigation of the Mumbai attacks. Until now, India had refused to come back to the negotiating table until Pakistan brought the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, which is still an open issue. Still, the agreement, reached just days before the two countries’ Prime Ministers kept sat side by side for a March 30 Indo-Pakistani cricket match in India, was described as “a major step forward” and successful in reducing the “trust deficit.” The two also agreed to set up a hotline to discuss terror threats in real time. Ministerial talks are scheduled for July to address the range of issues that separate the two, including the disputed territory of Kashmir (Reuters March 29, 2011)