'Important To Also See How Your Ally Talks To Your Enemy': Security Expert At NDTV Defence Summit

It is important to determine how a nation that you see as a friend is dealing with your adversaries, National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) member Pankaj Saran said at the NDTV Defence Summit today.

"We as a nation have to be clinical. What is happening is, you also have to see how your partner is dealing with your adversaries," he said.

The defining characteristic of US policy over the last 1.5 years has been a complete turnaround in its relationship with Pakistan, to the point that they are touching our headlines often.

At the session titled 'Faultlines and Firepower: India's Strategic Calculus', Saran said that when it comes to the Pakistani threat, despite all the bluster and the rhetoric coming out from there everyone in the world understands that Operation Sindoor marked a leap of faith.

"It did something which no previous government in the history of India had done. I think we have a new doctrine in place, whether anyone likes it or not," he said.

US President Donald Trump, for example, is heavily invested in finding a peace agreement on the Russia-Ukraine war. "And you have a situation where the United States is closely talking to the Chinese and the Russians at the level of the White House, not the State Department or the Department of War, but from the heart of where it matters," Saran said.

"You know that there is a different world at play, which is going to be determined by this dynamic between the United States, China, and Russia," he added.

"In this situation, erstwhile allies and partners of old alliances... When it comes to the Indo-Pacific, we have to read the tea leaves or smell the coffee, whichever is your preference. If India is engaging with China or with Russia, we are actually simply following the script that is coming out from the White House," Saran said.

"In this situation, erstwhile allies and partners of old alliances... When it comes to the Indo-Pacific, we have to read the tea leaves or smell the coffee, whichever is your preference. If India is engaging with China or with Russia, we are actually simply following the script that is coming out from the White House," Saran said.

On the matter of the threat from Pakistan, Saran said the problems in Afghanistan and within Pakistan itself make it certain that Pakistan does not have the ability to undertake any adventure against India.

"I think they know that this time around they will pay a very heavy price. It will be a big folly, I think, if they underestimate the Indian resolve. They are internally in big trouble," Saran said.