India: Decisive Decimation In Madhya Pradesh – Analysis

Deepak Kumar Nayak

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On March 25, 2026, the Government of Madhya Pradesh extended the ban on Left Wing Extremist (LWE) organisations, including the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and its affiliated fronts, till November 2026, under the Madhya Pradesh Special Areas Security Act, 2000. The notification covers the Krantikari Kisan Committee (KKC) and Krantikari Jan Committee (KJC), which were earlier declared unlawful in January 2024. Despite Chief Minister Mohan Yadav declaring the state Naxalite-free in December 2025, authorities cited the need for sustained vigilance to prevent the resurgence of Naxalite activities. The renewed ban, aims to maintain surveillance and control over residual networks and affiliated entities.

Significantly, no CPI-Maoist-linked incident has been reported during the first 94 days of the current year (data till April 5, 2026), and data for 2025 indicates that the security situation in the State with regard to Maoist violence strengthened considerably, as compared to 2024.

India: Border Instability In Arunachal Pradesh – Analysis

Afsara Shaheen

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On March 26, 2026, three personnel of the Assam Rifles (AR) were reportedly killed in an attack by militants belonging to the Yung Aung faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland–Khaplang (NSCN-K-YA) along the Namgoi–Pangsau Road near the Indo-Myanmar border in the Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh. According to reports, militants targeted a construction team of the 10th Assam Rifles that was engaged in building a border fence in the area. 

In a subsequent statement, the ‘Ministry of Information and Publicity’ (MIP) of NSCN-K-YA claimed responsibility, asserting that its ‘Naga Army Tactical Unit’ carried out the attack in response to protests by Naga groups against what it described as the “illegal” fencing of the Indo-Myanmar boundary by the Government of India (GoI). The group warned that any continuation of such construction would invite resistance from Naga groups operating on both sides of the border. The incident highlights the continuing volatility of the Tirap-Changlang-Longding (TCL) region and the sensitivity of infrastructure development projects in insurgency-affected border areas.

Nuclear deterrence in South Asia looks stable only on paper

Rameez Raja

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The nuclear trajectories of India and Pakistan are rooted in their historical rivalry, emerging from the contentious partition of British India and the disputes that followed. Since Independence, this rivalry has generated a persistent sense of insecurity and vulnerability, accompanied by the recurring possibility of conflict. Both countries have sought to outmanoeuvre each other through arms accumulation and alliance-building, reflecting the realist and neo-realist view that security remains the primary driver compelling states to acquire nuclear weapons.

Within neo-realist thought, scholars are divided into optimists and pessimists based on their understanding of deterrence. Deterrence optimists argue that nuclear weapons, whether limited or expansive, can ensure stability by raising the costs of conflict to unacceptable levels. Viewed from this perspective, India’s nuclear trajectory, often justified as peaceful, was shaped by strategic concerns, particularly China’s nuclear test in 1964. The subsequent Chinese hydrogen bomb test in 1967 further accelerated India’s nuclear ambitions, leading to weapons design efforts at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai.

Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan

Kronstadt, K. Alan

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U.S. officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations and/or target for numerous armed, nonstate militant groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s. Notable terrorist and other groups operating in and/or launching attacks on Pakistan are of five broad, but not exclusive types: (1) globally oriented; (2) Afghanistan-oriented; (3) India- and Kashmir-oriented; (4) domestically oriented; and (5) sectarian (anti-Shia). Twelve of the 15 groups listed below are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) under U.S. law and most, but not all, are animated by Islamist extremist ideology.

Pakistan has suffered considerably from domestic terrorism since 2003, and related fatalities peaked in 2009. Many observers predicted a resurgence of regional terrorism and militancy in the wake of the Afghan Taliban's 2021 takeover, and data show this has occurred: After five consecutive years of declining fatality rates down to 365 in 2019, the number of terrorism-related deaths in Pakistan is up every year since, spiking to 4,001 in 2025, the highest toll in 11 years (see Figure 1). By many accounts, Pakistan currently is the country most impacted by terrorism.

China is winning one AI race, the US another - but either might pull ahead

Misha Glennyand

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In the second half of the 20th Century, it was the race to develop nuclear arms that occupied some of the finest minds in the US and the Soviet Union. Now the US finds itself in a different kind of race with a different adversary: China. The aim is to dominate technology; specifically Artificial Intelligence (AI). It's a fight taking place in research labs, on university campuses, and in the offices of cutting-edge start-ups - watched over by leaders of some of the world's richest companies, and at the highest levels of government. It costs trillions of US dollars.

And each side has its strengths - something Nick Wright, who works on cognitive neuroscience at University College London (UCL), neatly sums up as the battle between "brains" and "bodies". The US has traditionally led on so-called AI brains: the world of chatbots, microchips, and large language models (LLMs). China has been superior on AI "bodies": robots (and in particular, "humanoid" robots that look eerily like people).

Iran War: From F-15's to B-2 stealth bombers, the US military assets being used

Annie Jennemann

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The United States military employed more than 30 types of aircraft, vessels and systems in its operation in Iran as of March 23. "Operation Epic Fury" was launched at 1:15 a.m. Feb. 28, according to U.S. Central Command. Over the first 72 hours of the operation, more than 1,700 strikes occurred by the United States.

As of March 23, more than 9,000 strikes have occurred, and more than 140 Iranian vessels have been damaged or destroyed, according to CENTCOM. A U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday. Images of the jet analyzed by CNN matched an F-15E fighter jet. Three U.S. Air Force F-15Es were struck down in Kuwait during the first week in a "friendly fire" incident. The Get the Facts Data Team compiled information about some of the various aircraft used in the United States’ operations in Iran. The data collected includes the cost per unit at the time it was built or according to the U.S. Air Force website.

Pete Hegseth’s staffing moves prompt allegations of militarized discrimination

Rafi Schwartz

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s effort to purge the Pentagon of so-called woke ideologies has earned him plaudits from the White House. But his “highly unusual” decision to strike four officers — two women and two Black men — from a recent promotions list has some asking whether the officers were “being singled out because of their race or gender,” said The New York Times. The incident has resurrected a question that has dogged the secretary since his confirmation: Is the Defense Department still the microcosmic American melting pot it once was?

Implying lack of talent

It’s “exceedingly rare” for one-star general promotion lists like the one recently edited by Hegseth to receive “intense scrutiny from a defense secretary,” said the Times. The secretary’s sentiments dovetail with the “broader Trump administration’s attacks” on federal government programs designed to “support and promote the concerns of minority populations,” said Military Times.

2026-04-06 Contesting the rimlands: Ukraine, Iran, Korea?

Junotane

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The wars in Ukraine and Iran are routinely seen as separate—one a grinding territorial conflict in Europe, the other a slow-burning confrontation in the Middle East. This framing is neat, even comforting. Some like to imagine that it all could have been avoided if it weren’t for Trump or Netanyahu’s influence. They like to think that each conflict can be managed on its own terms. This is wrong.

Ukraine and Iran are not isolated events. They are connected expressions of technological change and geopolitical struggle—one driven by the rising strength of continental powers and the relative decline of maritime power, playing out across the rimlands where they collide. Nearly a century ago, Nicholas J. Spykman argued that power is not decided in the continental interior, but along the more densely populated, economically vital edges of Eurasia—the zones where land and sea power meet. These rimlands are not peripheral. They are decisive. Control them, and the balance of the entire system shifts.

The US Decimated Iran’s Navy. How Does It Still Control the Strait of Hormuz?

Harrison Kass

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Operation Epic Fury has led to the near-total destruction of Iran’s conventional navy. Dozens of its ships now lie at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and those that remain are largely hidden in secluded bases along the coastline, with minimal ability to challenge the US Navy in any open confrontation.

Despite the sorry condition of its naval forces, however, Iran still maintains selective control of the Strait of Hormuz—resulting in 80 to 90 percent of the traffic being halted. How? Not through naval dominance, but rather through asymmetric disruption, which Iran uses to make travel through the Strait too dangerous to risk.

Iran mediators make last-ditch push for 45-day ceasefire

Barak Ravid

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The U.S., Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing the terms for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war, according to four U.S., Israeli and regional sources with knowledge of the talks.

Why it matters: The sources said the chances for reaching a partial deal over the next 48 hours are slim. But this last-ditch effort could be the only chance to prevent a dramatic escalation in the war that will include massive strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure and retaliation against energy and water facilities in the Gulf states. Driving the news: President Trump's 10-day deadline to Iran was expected to expire Monday evening. But on Sunday, Trump extended his deadline by 20 hours and posted on Truth Social a new deadline of Tuesday at 8pm ET.

The Real Intelligence Failure in Iran

Shane Harris

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In 2005, a bipartisan commission of lawmakers and security experts concluded that “the Intelligence Community was dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” America’s spies had told President George W. Bush that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted a nuclear-weapons program and that Iraq possessed biological weapons and mobile production facilities, as well as stockpiles of chemical weapons. These supposed facts became the basis for a U.S. invasion and an eight-year occupation. “Not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over,” the commission found. “This was a major intelligence failure.”

If a similar panel of experts scrutinized the run-up to the current war in Iran, their assessment might go something like this:

The intelligence community was accurate and consistent in its prewar judgments about Iran’s capabilities and intentions to attack the United States and its allies. Contrary to what President Trump has said to justify his decision, the intelligence showed that the Iranian regime was not preparing to use a nuclear weapon; it did not have ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States; and in response to a U.S. military attack, Iran was likely to strike at neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf and try to close the Strait of Hormuz, precipitating a global economic crisis.

OPINION | Airpower’s reckoning: Lessons that we don't want to learn from Ukraine, Sindoor and Iran confrontations

Vice Admiral Harinder Singh (Retd) 

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The last half-decade has rewritten the rules of aerial warfare. From the grinding resilience of Ukraine to the sharp lessons of Operation Sindoor and the asymmetric blows traded around Iran, three conflicts expose a single, uncomfortable truth: airpower is no longer decided by platform prestige or the romance of the dogfight. Sensors, standoff reach, missile mass, and unmanned systems now shape outcomes. For nations that still equate air superiority with fleets of high-end fighters, the message is urgent and unambiguous: adapt or be outflanked.

When Russia’s invasion settled into a prolonged war, Ukraine’s survival became a study in distributed resilience, and it still stands four years later. Skilled pilots and capable aircraft mattered, but they mattered within a broader system: mobile air defence batteries, resilient sensor networks, dispersed logistics, and an industrial base that could sustain attrition. The conflict demonstrated that survivability in contested airspace is not an attribute of a single platform; it is a property of an integrated force. Fighters could not operate with impunity where layered defences and long-range fires dominated. Ukraine’s endurance was less about individual airframes than about the ability to combine sensors, missiles, and improvisation under pressure, aided substantially by Western support.

Bridge Day and the Law of War: Limits on Targeting Infrastructure

Haley Fuller

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On April 5, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day… Open the Fuckin’ Strait… or you’ll be living in Hell.”

The statement threatens attacks on infrastructure if access through the Strait of Hormuz is not restored. From a law of armed conflict perspective, the post matters because it frames potential targets in categorical terms. It does not identify specific military uses or operational objectives. That distinction becomes central when evaluating legality under the framework that actually binds the United States.

The Army’s Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF)

Feickert, Andrew

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Congress has expressed concern about the threat to U.S. national security posed by Russia and China. The Army believes to address this threat, it must be able to operate in a multi-domain (air, land, water, space, cyber, information) environment, requiring new operational concepts, technologies, weapons, and units. The Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) is the Army's self-described "organization centerpiece" of this effort.

What Is a Multi-Domain Task Force?

The Army's Chief of Staff Paper #1: Army Multi-Domain Transformation Ready to Win in Competition and Conflict dated March 16, 2021, describes the MDTF as "theater-level maneuver elements designed to synchronize precision effects and precision fires in all domains against adversary anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) networks in all domains, enabling joint forces to execute their operational plan (OPLAN)-directed roles."

The Real Intelligence Failure in Iran

Shane Harris

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In 2005, a bipartisan commission of lawmakers and security experts concluded that “the Intelligence Community was dead wrong in almost all of its pre-war judgments about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” America’s spies had told President George W. Bush that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted a nuclear-weapons program and that Iraq possessed biological weapons and mobile production facilities, as well as stockpiles of chemical weapons. These supposed facts became the basis for a U.S. invasion and an eight-year occupation. “Not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over,” the commission found. “This was a major intelligence failure.”

If a similar panel of experts scrutinized the run-up to the current war in Iran, their assessment might go something like this:

The intelligence community was accurate and consistent in its prewar judgments about Iran’s capabilities and intentions to attack the United States and its allies. Contrary to what President Trump has said to justify his decision, the intelligence showed that the Iranian regime was not preparing to use a nuclear weapon; it did not have ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States; and in response to a U.S. military attack, Iran was likely to strike at neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf and try to close the Strait of Hormuz, precipitating a global economic crisis. All of this was known before the war and presented to President Trump.

Befooled By Iran’s Grand Strategy, Trump Hits Out: But To What End? – OpEd

M.K. Bhadrakumar

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To borrow from William Congreve’s 1697 play The Mourning Bride, “Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned, / Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned”. This predicament explains the uncontrollable rage of the US President Donald Trump, a megalomaniac with an Amazonian ego, when belatedly he came to know that the Strait of Hormuz was not just one waterway amongst the 8 in the world.

By then Trump had already washed his hands off Iran’s move to shut down the Hormuz saying it was none of his concern, and left it the Europeans and the Gulf Arab sheikhs. Now he is staging a comeback and the turnaround is a wild swing, as he realises that if Iran is allowed to preside over the strait of Hormuz, it would have profound implications for “de-dollarisation.” Iran’s Majlis is already seized with legislation introducing a toll system to regulate the use of the waterway by foreign ships.

Israel destroys southern Lebanon towns, hits ‘safe’ areas around Beirut

Al Jazeera Staff

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Israel has launched renewed strikes on southern Lebanon as it continues to press forward with a ground invasion, while also waging new attacks on Beirut shortly after striking areas around the capital that had been so far removed from the conflict.

At least four people were killed in a raid that hit a car in the southern town of Kfar Rumman, the Lebanese Civil Defence told Al Jazeera.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a string of attacks in the Jabal Amel region, south of the Litani River, including in the towns of Arzoun, Jouya, Hadatha, Jmeijmeh, Dbeibine and Haris.

A new regional order for the Strait of Hormuz

Sina Emami

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The ongoing war of choice launched by the United States and Israel against Iran has shattered the geopolitical status quo in our region. As Washington finds itself entangled in another Middle Eastern quagmire, reports suggest that US President Donald Trump’s administration is increasingly in need of a political off-ramp.

The Hormuz littoral states possess a rare, collective opportunity to provide the American president with an exit strategy. By taking the initiative to establish a new, locally managed security architecture for the Strait of Hormuz, our nations can further elevate their strategic significance in regional geopolitics and the global economy. The alternative to this win-win scenario is prolonged conflict that would ensure that a new regional order is eventually imposed unilaterally by Tehran.

America’s silent guardians

Wendy Noble

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Twelve months have passed since I was released on April 4, 2025, as the 20th deputy director of the National Security Agency. I believe that the president always has the right to choose his team — that is not a political statement, it is a constitutional one. Executive authority over the national security apparatus is real, and proper. Over the past year, as I reflected on my nearly 40 years at the agency, my overwhelming feeling has been a sense of gratitude for having worked with the countless professionals who play a vital role in safeguarding Americans.

What readers are saying

The conversation explores a range of perspectives on the role and challenges faced by the U.S. intelligence community, particularly under the Trump administration. Many participants express gratitude and admiration for the dedication and service of intelligence professionals,... Show moreThis summary is AI-generated. AI can make mistakes and this summary is not a replacement for reading the comments.

America Is Used to Hiding Its Wars. Trump Is Doing the Opposite.

Charles Homans

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On April 1, 32 days after abruptly launching a wave of airstrikes on Iran, President Trump made his first formal White House address to the American people about the war. He offered no new information or clarity on his strategy or goals. It was mostly just Trump, talking. But amid the familiar superlatives and tangents, there was a curiously specific digression.

“It’s very important that we keep this conflict in perspective,” Trump said. “American involvement in World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days! Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.” All of this was to say that 32 days was really not very long at all.

Trump threats cause dilemma for US officers: disobey orders or commit war crimes

Julian Borger

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Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes. It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command. In an expletive-laden threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one”.

He wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” Trump’s deadline for Iran looms… again – The Latest

Outpaced by the US, China’s military places selective bets on artificial intelligence

Ralph Jennings

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NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — The Chinese navy is enhancing its guided-missile frigate, the Qinzhou, with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm designed to illuminate blind spots during air defense engagements, an official military website said. The website cited a state-run media report and experts calling the vessel a “major leap in integrated combat capability” that “positions the vessel among the most advanced frigates in service today”.

A slew of announcements such as that one from March 30 shows AI expanding across a military that aims to “intelligentize” as it prepares for potential conflicts in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. But analysts say China is picking its AI battles carefully rather than expecting quick domination of the technology or short-term parity with the United States.

The Algorithmic Battlefield: Forging The U.S. Army’s Future Dominance With A New Breed Of Acquisition Leader

Lt. Col. Aditya S. Khurana 

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Imagine a world where artificial super intelligence conducts combined arms warfare across all domains of war, using quantum computing, robotics, predictive logistics and nanotechnology. This vision, once the realm of science fiction, is rapidly becoming a strategic reality, as outlined in the U.S. Army’s concept for multidomain operations. As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become integral to modern warfare, it is critical to identify and address gaps in current acquisition strategies related to AI threats, ethical considerations, necessary infrastructure and cost-effectiveness. By 2030, AI supremacy will likely equal military supremacy as the militarization of AI has severe implications for global security, according to a United Nations University article, “Militarization of AI Has Severe Implications for Global Security and Warfare.”

The transformation of the 51C workforce (officers and noncommissioned officers, or NCOs) from traditional transactional roles to strategic acquisition leaders is essential for empowering personnel to navigate the complexities of modern algorithmic procurement effectively. Upskilling in AI, cybersecurity, ethics and energy markets will enhance capabilities, build public trust through transparency and ensure alignment with military objectives.

How U.S. military dominance unravels China’s war machine

Miles Yu

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The modern trajectory of China’s weapons development cannot be understood without recognizing a recurring pattern: Every major leap in the People’s Liberation Army has been triggered by decisive demonstrations of U.S. military superiority. From the Persian Gulf War to more recent confrontations involving Iran and Venezuela, American battlefield dominance has repeatedly exposed systemic weaknesses in China’s military-industrial complex, forcing cycles of hurried modernization, internal crisis and political purges.

This pattern reflects not only strategic rivalry but also deeper structural deficiencies within the Chinese Communist Party system itself. At its core, the CCP has long defined the United States as its principal adversary. From Mao Zedong’s ideological framing of struggle against Western imperialism to Xi Jinping’s emphasis on “great power competition” and systemic sabotage against America’s global standing on all fronts, the party’s strategic mission has consistently centered on overcoming and ultimately displacing American power.