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Ex-Pentagon official says Pakistan ‘badly’ lost conflict with India: 'Ran like scared dog for ceasefire'
Michael Rubin said India won this both diplomatically and militarily and whole world's attention is now on Pakistan's terrorist sponsorship.
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official, made a scathing assessment of Pakistan’s recent military engagement with India, saying that Pakistan went “running like “a dog with tail between its legs” after India disabled its airfields.
Rubin was speaking with news agency ANI over the recent developments between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack when he said, “India won this both diplomatically and militarily. The reason why India won diplomatically is that all attention is now on Pakistan's terrorist sponsorship.”
He added that India targeted terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) with precision strikes.
"Pakistan went running to try to achieve a ceasefire like a scared dog with its tail between its legs" after India put their airfields out of commission, Rubin said, adding that Islamabad can not run away from the reality that it “lost very, very badly”.
The Pentagon official highlighted the strategic blow dealt by India, saying, “The fact that Pakistani officers in uniform attended the funeral of terrorists shows that there is no differentiation between a terrorist and a member of the ISI or the Pakistani armed forces. Basically, the world is going to demand that Pakistan extract the rot from its own system.”
“Diplomatically, India changed the conversation, militarily, Pakistan is shocked,” he said.
Pointing to the clarity of India’s strategic upper hand this time, Rubin said, “Pakistan has started every single war with India and yet convinced itself that somehow it has won. It's going to be very different...to convince themselves that they won this 4-day war.”
He detailed how India blunted Pakistan’s initial response and swiftly escalated its precision operations. “India was able to, with precision, decimate the terror headquarters and training camps,” Michael Rubin said. When Pakistan tried to retaliate, India’s superior strategy left their air capabilities crippled, he added.
The former Pentagon official also raised tough questions about the leadership of Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir and the internal dysfunction of the military establishment. “Clearly, there's a problem within the Pakistani military, both because it's a cancer on Pakistani society and because as a military, it's incompetent. So is Asim Munir going to keep his job?”
He further added, “Pakistan needs to clean house, but it's an open question whether they are too far gone to do that.”
India-Pakistan conflict
Following the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22 that left 26 people dead and several injured, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7.
The Indian armed forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), killing over 100 terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).
In retaliation, Pakistan carried out cross-border shelling and drone attacks along the Line of Control and other border areas. India responded with coordinated strikes, damaging key radar systems, communication centres, and airfields at Pakistani airbases.
The military escalation ended on May 10, when both countries reached an understanding to cease military action on land, sea and in the air.
(With ANI inputs)
