China’s incursion reaffirms the ancient strategic axiom that “geography is the real determinant of history” – and, as a result, of foreign and security policy, too. Robert Kaplan wisely observes that “Indian geography is the story of invasions from a northwesterly direction,” and “India’s strategic challenges still inhere in this fact,” which is why Afghanistan, to Indian eyes, is linked to the sub-continent’s history, and thus our future.
而中国的进犯也再次印证了那条古老的战略格言：“地理才是历史的真正决定因素”——并进一步决定着外交和国防政策。罗伯特·卡普兰也英明地观察到“印度的地理就是抵御来自西北方面入侵的历史”而且“当今印度的战略挑战依然与这一事实密切相关”，因此在印度人眼中，阿富汗与次大陆的历史密不可分，甚至决定着印度的未来。