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My question is why did Indians cold start war plan against Pakistan in 2009 fail so spectacularly.


So as everyone knows the Mumbai attacks on November 2008, led to the Indo-Pakistani war. Starting on the 2nd of January 2009 after diplomatic talks between both nations fell through.

Both nations had been gearing up for war in the event that diplomacy failed. And at 1 am on the second of January the Indians started operation Monsoon. Operation Monsoon was the implementation of the cold start doctrine by India, which aimed to defeat the Pakistan military on the field by surprise without pushing too deep into the nation in order to not push Pakistan towards the nuclear option.

But this failed spectacularly, as the Pakistani military was ready, and not only stopped India's invasion but counter attacked pushing into Indian lands. The Pakistani invasion was stopped in the north when the Indian Army regrouped and managed to grind them to a halt at the battles of Amritsar, Bikaner and Jodhpur. But Pakistan had greater success in the south occupying parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat west of the Sabarmati River and managed to surrounded the city of Ahmedabad and on February 23rd both nations signed a ceasefire much to the relieve of the world. Which led to the Paris peace talks mediated by the EU, the US, China and Russia.

Pakistani military occupation of Indian lands continued until the 11th of June, when India signed the Paris peace agreement where they relinquished all sovereignty to disputed lands of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, handing them over to Pakistan.

This war had the world standing on edge as both nations had nuclear weapons, but decided not to use them. In Pakistan the war was seen as great victory and allowed Prime minister Gillani to consolidate his power of the nation and military. In India the war led to the collapse of the INC who were blamed for the loss, after the delayed 2009 election held during october rather than April and may due Pakistani occupation. The War also had a negative impact on the BJP who were pro war and whose leader Lal Krishna Advani led the breakdown in peace talks before the war.

Key:
Black - Pre war borders.
Red - Military front at the time of the ceasefire.

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