The Bear, the Dragon and the Islamists: Russia and China Ambiguous Stances with Regard to the Islamist Militancy Threat

“Your neighbour is your natural enemy and the neighbour of your neighbour is your friend.” – Vishnugupta chanakya, heretic brahmin and one of the first Indian political thinkers.

In February 2019, India nearly took up arms against Pakistan after two Indian warplanes were shot down by the Pakistani Army. India had struck terrorist camps (JeM and/or LeT infrastructure) located in Pakistan after attacks on Indian soil. The crisis eventually de-escalated when Pakistan gave back the captured Indian pilot as a goodwill gesture. But the relationship between the two countries remains tense. Often analysts tend to describe the ISI (Pakistan secret service) as the main supporter of Islamist militancy in South Asia against India. Indeed, ISI-LeT (“Lashkar-e-Taiba”), ISI-HuM (“Harakat-ul-Mujahideen”) and ISI-IM (“Indian Mujahideen”) links were exposed in past attacks. The ambiguous role that Great Powers play regarding Islamist militancy in South Asia will be underlined in this study. Since 2014 and the coalition drawdown in Afghanistan, the Pakistan-China-Russia triangle plays a key role in fuelling or ignoring the Islamist militancy growing threat for the stability of the region. Both Russia and China see inaction regarding this threat as a way to further their national interest in the region. This is an important issue as the region is already plagued by Islamist militancy, from the FATA to Kashmir and Afghanistan where the war between the Ghani regime and the Taliban is a stalemate…