External Linkages and Internal Security: Assessing Bhutan’s Operation All Clear

Disruption of terrorist networks – intra-regional, inter-regional and trans-national – should be supplementary to the overall counterterrorism strategy. Larger issues including socio-economic and cultural can only be addressed in the long-term. The immediate goal, however, has to be an effective localised response. Otherwise, efforts like Bhutan’s counter-terrorism operations against ULFA, NDFB and KLO – popularly called ‘Operation All Clear’- may only have a partial impact.