Era of decisive short wars is over short of near genocide
As the US is discovering eight years, trillion dollars, and over 25,000 casualties later-in Afghanistan. That era of "decisive" short wars, especially in the Indo-Pak context, is largely over because of several reasons.
The US could quickly and decisively beat up Panama.
The US could take two weeks and utterly stomp on national militaries from any non-nuclear country below Iran, but it would leave a Syria or Libya situation.
Decisive wars would need 10 to 20% population casualties like in World War 2 and those would not be short wars. They would be shorter than Afghanistan. It would take the US going for probably a year to try such a victory. But it would not work in any poor country that like Vietnam chose to take over 3 million casualties and refuse to knuckle under.
India is mostly militarily incompetent.
China's "One Belt One Road" project coursing through the length of Pakistan has pretty much made the two permanent partners. China's economic aspirations and access to the Arabian Sea through Baluchistan ending at Gwadar port is a strategic masterstroke by Pakistan and China. Not only is it a win-win for them but it is also a "lose-lose" for India for many reasons.
