WI: Osama Bin Laden Targets India Instead of the US?

What if instead of Osama Bin Laden being so concerned about US support for Israel and American troops being stationed near Mecca, he instead has greater sympathy for the Pakistani dispute with India over Kashmir and Hindu oppression of Muslims? So instead of destroying the World Trade Center on 9/11 he hijacks several aircraft inside of India and crashes them into targets inside of Mumbai killing thousands instead?
 

Nietzsche

Banned
Assuming he does something similar, but to India, the biggest difference will obviously be that, well, while many more people die in the initial attack, getting Osama is going to be a matter of days, maybe weeks.

I can believe he hid from SEAL teams, SAS and such. I'll buy that. But there's nothing left living on the planet that can hide from a Gurkha. Mostly because either Gurkhas finally got them, or they hastened the inevitable and did themselves in.
 
How would Pakistan react? They'd be caught right in the middle, whether they had anything to do with it or not.
 

Narnia

Banned
I can believe he hid from SEAL teams, SAS and such. I'll buy that. But there's nothing left living on the planet that can hide from a Gurkha. Mostly because either Gurkhas finally got them, or they hastened the inevitable and did themselves in.

This sounds like the ramblings of some radical Nationalists. Just replace Gurkha with Marine/Spetsnaz/Mountie/Red Guard and you have the usual "Our army is teh bestest!!1" junk that every Nationalists fanboy spews on military discussion boards. Osama will hide from the Indians just as well as he hid from the Americans. Pretty much every country hated him and was looking for him anyways.

Back to the OP, Pakistan may very well get the blame for this. Expect tensions to go up by a lot. I also think this would just be another 2-minute story on the news though. American/Canadian news stations tend to ignore stuff that happens outside our borders unless it directly affects us.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
This sounds like the ramblings of some radical Nationalists. Just replace Gurkha with Marine/Spetsnaz/Mountie/Red Guard and you have the usual "Our army is teh bestest!!1" junk that every Nationalists fanboy spews on military discussion boards. Osama will hide from the Indians just as well as he hid from the Americans. Pretty much every country hated him and was looking for him anyways.
I meant it (mostly) in jest. The serious bit is that the Gurkhas will have far less red tape to go through in regards to getting Bin Laden. And, generally, they really are just -better- at their task than most other special forces teams.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
He would still need a Pakistani Mohammed Atta, i.e. someone who is willing to take his money and plan and organize the operation. 9/11 was Atta's operation in everything but name.
 
I meant it (mostly) in jest. The serious bit is that the Gurkhas will have far less red tape to go through in regards to getting Bin Laden. And, generally, they really are just -better- at their task than most other special forces teams.


In fairness, the British also have Gurkhas...
 
Right now I'm just imagining the major international incident that would come from Indian special forces flying into Pakistan and killing Bin Laden.
 
He would likely need collaborators within India, and those might get find fairly quickly. Then again, they may not. This "9/11" definitely won't be as big on the international stage as 9/11 OTL, because, though many more people die, Western media tends to ignore things that don't affect us directly, and the rest of the world isn't as dependent on Mumbai or India as much as they are on New York and America. Pakistan will be blamed, possibly some somewhat nationalist groups will call for a pre-emptive strike before it's known whether the Pakistanis actually had anything to do with this or not.
 

Freizeit

Banned
Assuming he does something similar, but to India, the biggest difference will obviously be that, well, while many more people die in the initial attack, getting Osama is going to be a matter of days, maybe weeks.

I can believe he hid from SEAL teams, SAS and such. I'll buy that. But there's nothing left living on the planet that can hide from a Gurkha. Mostly because either Gurkhas finally got them, or they hastened the inevitable and did themselves in.

I think Gurkhas are Nepalese, not Indian.
 
I have no clue as to what this may get. 2001 was when the BJP was in power, a major Pro hindu party. If Osama claims to have been behind the attacks, well things might get a little messy. On 13 Dec 2001, the Indian parliment was attacked by terrorists and India almost went to war with Pakistan.

So If there is an attack by Osama, then expect India to go to war against him. If Pakistan does not allow India to use their area, then it does become a bad situation for Pakistan in sense that it will have been seen aiding a terrorist openly.
 
In 2001 Osama was in Afghanistan not Pakistan, I don't see how could invade Afghanistan, Pakistan will never let Indian forces transit their territory.

A result of this would unfortunately be anti-Muslim riots in India.
 
What if instead of Osama Bin Laden being so concerned about US support for Israel and American troops being stationed near Mecca, he instead has greater sympathy for the Pakistani dispute with India over Kashmir and Hindu oppression of Muslims? So instead of destroying the World Trade Center on 9/11 he hijacks several aircraft inside of India and crashes them into targets inside of Mumbai killing thousands instead?

Since american troops are station in saudi you need at least to come up with a plausible POD. ... OBL wakes up and targets india overr kashmir is not enough for one.

This is what is often lacking in AH ... thoughtful analysis of the why. Many are quite adept at conceiving of what ifs and crafting thiughtful butterflies but the what if it self is inexplicable.

So, where and why a POD that leads to this action.
 
In 2001 Osama was in Afghanistan not Pakistan, I don't see how could invade Afghanistan, Pakistan will never let Indian forces transit their territory.

A result of this would unfortunately be anti-Muslim riots in India.

No, I think unfortunately that would lead to open war between India and Pakistan, with a good chance of it going nuclear. That'll get the West's attention right quick.
 
How would Pakistan react? They'd be caught right in the middle, whether they had anything to do with it or not.
I imagine that they'd quietly build him a nice big house next door to one of their larger military bases. So, pretty much the same as OTL. :p
 
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