Eastern approaches

In just three years, escalating civil conflict in India's eastern neighbours Myanmar and Bangladesh has significantly weakened the dynamics for peace and stability in the Northeast.

India shares long borders with both countries - over 1,600 km with Myanmar and 4,096 km with Bangladesh, the world's fifth-longest land border. These boundaries run along key Northeastern states, several of which have been fighting fierce insurgency movements against the Indian state for decades.

Since 2021, Myanmar has been in the throes of a civil war following a military coup in response to the landslide electoral victory of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. Since then, the junta's soldiers are unsuccessfully fighting multiple battles with insurgent groups, local warlords, and their militias and prodemocracy forces such as the Arakan Army, Chinland Defence Forces, and Karenni Nationalities Defence Force. Today, the military exercises direct control only in and around Yangon and Naypyidaw, the capital city, in central Myanmar, and patches in the northwest and southeast of the country.