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Dedication

To the brave Indian intelligence operatives engaged in battling terror. They remain faceless and nameless despite their priceless sacrifices for the country.

– D.P. Sinha

To India’s ‘Trojan Horses’, who are its silent warriors, and all the families who have lost their loved ones to terror.

– Abhishek Sharan

Authors’ Note

AUTHORS’ NOTE

The Soviet Union ‘Red Army’ withdrew from Afghanistan, the country it had occupied for ten years, by February 1989, stumping the world. The historical retreat did not ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan, however. Instead, the country became embroiled in ceaseless hostilities between the communist government forces of President Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai and mujahidee groups in their efforts to control Kabul. It virtually signalled the beginning of a long and enduring national security nightmare for India.

Concluded on 14 April 1988, the Geneva Accords had been signed by the representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, Pakistan and the Republic of Afghanistan. The agreements were ostensibly meant to provide a framework for the withdrawal of the Red Army and a multilateral understanding among the signatories regarding the future of international engagement in the war-torn country. The Pakistani army and its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), meanwhile were left stranded by the sudden departure of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The ISI had stockpiles of weapons, explosives and battle-hardened mujahideens of different countries. The training infrastructure for the newly inducted mujahideens was also intact. The ISI decided to divert this against India – for creating mayhem in Jammu and Kashmir and, later, in the soft belly of the country – from 1989 onwards.

In its campaign to bleed India with terror, the ISI began using the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as its principal battering arm. The LeT was set up in 1987 by Hafiz Saeed and had the blessings of the Pakistani establishment in its terror campaigns against India from the very beginning. The LeT has conducted a spate of terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Tackling the LeT’s game plan to seek to pulverize India with mindless suicide attacks and blasts from 1989 onwards has presented a stiff challenge to the Indian security and intelligence agencies. The task of thwarting terror is not an easy one. It’s a 24x7 mission. After its attempt to kill British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher failed in 1984, the terror group Irish Republican Army had said, ‘You have to be lucky all the time. We only have to be lucky once.’