“America also needed Pakistan if they were gonna invade Afghanistan” ft. Nikhil Ravi

The 26/11 Mumbai attacks are often remembered as three horrific days in November 2008. But according to Nikhil Ravi, co-author of Perfect Storm, they were the outcome of over 60 years of history, policy, ideology, and state-sponsored terror. In this deeply researched and unsettling conversation, Cyrus Broacha and Nikhil Ravi trace the roots of 26/11 all the way back to Partition (1947) — examining how Pakistan’s doctrine of asymmetric warfare evolved, how global powers played their part, and how terror organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba became highly professionalised machines. Anchored by insights from Prabhakar Aloka, former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, this episode goes beyond outrage and emotion to focus on context, systems, and uncomfortable truths. This is not an easy listen — but it is an essential one. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.