In 1911 when the British shifted India’s capital from Kolkata to Delhi, the new capital had a lot of snakes. The British government offered a scheme to the people. Whoever submits a dead snake gets some money. In no time people started rearing snakes in their backyard, kill them and started making money. The British government got exactly what it asked for – dead snakes.
Once the government realised the mistake, it stopped the scheme. Due to lack of any incentive, the people released all the snakes they were reared on the streets in the open. The problem of snakes at the end multiplied several times than before.
War on Terror
The war on terror was a complete sham. Pakistan kept on earning blank cheques from the west and the financial institutions worldwide by producing more terrorists from their madrassas. There was no real war on terror going on until US forces were in Afghanistan.
Pushing the USSR out of Afghanistan and pin-pricking India continuously with terror attacks for decades were the two main objectives of anti-India countries which sponsored Pakistan. Balakot strikes by India ended the utility of Pakistani nuisance completely. Now it made no sense for any countries to fund the terror state.
The real war has begun now as the rogue state has released the snakes on Afghanistan as the free money for catching terrorists stopped. The US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan to actually kick-start the war we are seeing.
This time around it seems the expenditure of Jihad will dry Pakistani cash to rock bottom. The US is waiting in the periphery to enter and interfere at the time and place of its choosing. A step back can turn into a big comeback in no time if the US chooses to. Withdrawal of US forces also means that it didn’t want any casualties for the time being.
Coming back to the snakes’ story –
Was the prize money offered for catching the terrorists actually for grooming new madrassa graduates for terror?
Hillary Clinton once said, “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours”.
The ongoing war in Afghanistan will eventually test Hillary Clinton’s assertion about the behaviour of snakes.
Author: Ankit Shah, A South-Asia Security & Foreign Policy Analyst, PhD scholar & Past Academic & Research Associate of IIM Ahmedabad. He also runs “The BHAARAT KSHETRA” YouTube Channel. Tweets @ankitatIIMA.