Malabar 2021

The Phase-II of Indian Navy’s (IN) Multilateral Maritime Exercise Malabar2021 (25thedition) kicked off in the Bay of Bengal on 12 October 2021 with participation from the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF), Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the United States Navy (USN). The exercise will culminate on 15 October 2021. ^[1] Phase-I of the exercise was held in the Philippines Sea from 26 – 29 August 2021.

The Setting

The events in Afghanistan have come full circle since 18 October, 2001 when the US Special Forces were inserted from across the Central Asian borders. Whilst it might appear as history repeating itself, the circumstances have changed so radically that the future events will not unfold in an imitation of the ones set off with that crossing. If the dynamic of military conflict in 2001 is kept in mind, the “rapid collapse” of the Ghani government should not appear so surprising;