Washington/New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Pakistan-linked networks have shown growing agility, adapting their tactics to evade Indian border defences and exploit emerging technologies. The rising use of drug-laden drones along the western border, particularly in Punjab, is emerging as a major concern, a report has highlighted.
The US has long structured its South Asia policy countering China, dealing with the fallout from Afghanistan, and preventing terrorist safe havens, yet Pakistan-facilitated narcotics trafficking into India remains a “persistent and underappreciated” threat that warrants greater attention in Washington.
This is no longer merely an organised crime syndicate but reflects a clear case of “narco-terrorism” – operating as a grey-zone strategy that blends commercial interest with destabilising activity, Siddhant Kishore, a Washington-based national security and foreign policy analyst, wrote in ‘The Cipher Brief’.
“Drug proceeds fund anti-India Salafi-Jihadist groups, erode social stability in a key democratic partner, and sustain the very transnational networks that the United States has targeted for decades. Recent Indian operations and intelligence reports reveal Pakistan’s role as both a transit hub and active enabler, turning the Golden Crescent into a direct vector against Indian society. For American policymakers, ignoring this pipeline risks undermining Indo-US strategic convergence at a critical moment in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East,” he detailed.
Kishore cited the 2025 US State Department Presidential Determination findings on major drug transit countries, which explicitly listed Pakistan among the 23 nations central to the global illicit drug trafficking, driven by “geographic, commercial, and economic factors” that persisted despite enforcement challenges.
Indian analysts and security officials, he said, described this case of narco-terrorism, with proceeds from these consignments funding Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The funding is facilitated through hawala networks and cryptocurrency-based laundering networks.
“The human cost inside India is stark as border states like Punjab confront epidemic youth addiction, rising crime rates, and generational damage that weakens internal cohesion. What begins as a criminal enterprise quickly becomes a tool of hybrid warfare that imposes asymmetric costs on India without crossing the threshold of conventional conflict,” Kishore stated.
“For the United States, this matters because the same financial pipelines that move drug money have historically overlapped with terrorist financing streams that once threatened American lives and interests,” he noted.
According to the expert, post-Operation Sindoor — a military offensive launched by India following the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack carried out by a Pakistan-based terror group – has underscored how rapidly South Asia’s security architecture can shift. However, Kishore said, the narcotics threat, particularly emanating from Pakistani soil, has grown severe, evolving faster than the countermeasures aimed at containing it.
“For the United States, treating Pakistan’s role in this pipeline as a peripheral law-enforcement matter is no longer tenable,” he stressed.
