How serious of a threat is ISIS to India? Can the Indian Armed Forces contain them easily?
Not really - since we have been facing an ISIS (a terrorist controlled state) of our own for the past 67 years {Pakistan} - which has been particularly aggressive in the last 30 years with their dirty terrorist war and moreover they had the backing of the US and NATO and now China. We have been doing fine with that so yes we will be able to handle them.LeT or JeM is just as brutal as ISIS - they also do beheadings of civilians (including children - a 4 year child got murdered recently) - attack Maternity and Women and Children's hospitals - families of servicemen - innocent civilians - rape women (one brave Kashmiri girl killed an LeT commander to protect her family) - Pak Army works with terrorists to bait India into retaliating and trying to make us look like the bad guy to get more support/recruits - the Organization of Islamic Nations (OIC) supports them in all their resolutions against us - etc - the only DIFFERENCE is they don't use youtube or twitter like ISIS to recruit - they prefer conventional rallies/TV interviews/one-on-one chat to brainwash people into becoming terrorists. On the ISIS side - they're not powerful at all - they just look flashy - any country in the middle east like Egypt or regional power aspirants like Turkey and Iran could beat them down easily if they put their minds to it. ISIS has atmost 50000 terrorist fighters - most of them are young disenfranchised idiots suckered into the life of violence/drugs/sex through slavery etc - they don't have a working airforce or even a proper mechanized corps or logistics corps. They don't have a functioning administration - sharia law is too harsh and their atrocities are too great - the population they terrorize outnumbers them 1000 to 1 at many places. You can read about the topic on other QUORA questions - one guy had given exact definition of why ISIS will not exist and is actually good for removing all the bad apples from the World.
Should US forces be returning to Iraq to attack IS? Will it actually improve conditions in the long term?
Yes.Not only yes, but I cannot fathom how anyone (which is to say, everyone) who is invested in the stability of the Middle East, who states they stand for secularism, for humanitarianism, et al could state otherwise.I dont think I need to go over, for the reader, what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq right now. Anyone who has gotten on the internet or glanced at a magazine knows what horrifying crimes against humanity ISIS/ISIL is up to. All in the name of Islam, I would like to add. However, with that said, air strikes alone will not beat back this cancer. Air strikes do not hold ground, air strikes do not beat back unconventional forces. Ground troops / "boots on the ground", take your preference, are what accomplish this. Air strikes, as well as indirect fire, certainly help, but they are not an answer or an end in them of themselves. While the Peshmerga, who I have written about elsewhere, are a formidable fighting force, they cannot do the job on their own. They need better weapons, they need more support, they need us fighting alongside them. The Iraqi army, which has been ripped apart despite our best efforts in training by the previous Prime Minister of Iraq, is in desperate need of repair. A good portion of this repair is political. Perhaps Haider al-Abadi will not continue the sectarianism of Maliki. I hope he wont, but I cannot say that with any certainty. The only caveat I would add is that if an American army is sent in, if the current or future CinC sends in the Marines, he or she should demand multiple political concessions from the Iraqi government in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Because I will remind you, brothers and sisters, that the gains ISIS has made have been a result of institutional Sunni Arab and Sunni Kurd disenfranchisement, intentionally at the hands of the Shia in Iraq. If, or rather when, we go back to Iraq we should demand everyone in the country gets a seat at the table, and we should demand a proper Status of Forces Agreement this time, so we can finish the job we started in 2003 and the world can move forward.
What happens if IS (Islamic State) enters India and starts invading?
If ISIS tries to invade India, the end result won't be good, for ISIS that is. Here are my reasons 1)The only reason why they were so successful in Iraq was that even before their arrival the Iraqi society was in chaos, the Sunni Muslims were angry on the leadership for neglecting them, as soon as ISIS came into the picture they saw it as an opportunity for payback, poof and all the Sunni's in the Iraqi army abandoned their posts and joined them, (that's approximately half the Iraqi army joining), ISIS practices a highly radical form of Islam, these guys were so extreme that even Al Qaida stopped supporting them, the chances of them getting substantial support by the Muslim community in India like they did in Iraq is very rare. 2)ISIS is no army, just a band of barbarians armed with automatic rifles, a few captured tanks, Helicopters, Scuds and other equipment from the Iraqis. Meanwhile it is wise to remember that we have the world's second largest army, fourth largest airforce and seventh largest Navy. 3)Not just size, our armed forces are well trained, heavily armed, disciplined and highly organized, There are many incidents that even though our forces were outnumbered, using comparatively older and low tech equipment were able to defeat the adversary not because of luck but because of their training 4)Before you begin any advancement by land you must first attain air superiority, ISIS does not have an air force, The IAF will bomb the hell out of them before they even have a chance to engage our ground forces 5)Comparing the state of mind of the adversaries, for ISIS India is just another target to conquer but for our soldiers, they will be protecting their homeland. Our men who have distinguished themselves by performing impossible feats and unparalleled sacrifice in un peace keeping missions in foreign lands will not hesitate one bit to do the same for their mother land I don't know if ISIS have any plans for India but I can guarantee you, attacking India will be the last thing they will ever do!!
If India and ISIS had a fight, who would win?
Let us say that both the parties are going to have a full fledged war. There can be teo possibilities, that either they come to us, or we go to them. There is a third possibility to nuke them, but I won’t dwell on it.They come to usIf ISIS comes to attack India, it could only be from the western side, be it land or sea. If it is through land, I shall assume that they have a support of the military of Pakistan, which will help them in the war on that front. However, since our forces already have a lot of experience in war and our soldiers are well adapted to the environment, we shall beat them easily. It is also easier for India than ISIS to mobilise the forces as we will be at home. It should be easy as anything. War would not last long.If, however, they only get shelter and no military support from Pakistan, I shall say the war should be over in less than a month.If they come by the sea route, our navies are ever so ready. Since it will be an official war, our navy would always be on high alert. Now, ISIS does not have much experience in water. I concur that the war will be over before it began.We go to themThis has actually been tried by American and other nations. If we go to them, and get the diplomatic support of the neighboring countries, while I assume that ISIS has all of Iraq, of course, moving our troops and supplies should be no hassle at all, since we shall be able to use the local resources at a price. Our troops can be stationed at the country, make their bases there and can fight from there. However, if they refuse, we are in for a long and difficult war.Our navy can dominate the waterway, but that will not do much good as it is well connected by land routes to other countries for supplies, if, there are any to provide, which I highly doubt. Anyways, this war will go on for much longer without local support. However, if we are thinking about an all out fuck our economy and erase it from the map war, we will win by a landslide given both our soldiers and their equipment are better. It will cost us dearly, but that is another issue irrelevant to this question.