Probably a mistake on India's part, but the future will tell us.

We have the habit of squandering away the gains made on the battlefield on the negotiation table, famously after the 1971 war that birthed Bangladesh where thousands of square kilometers of captured territory and 93,000 POWs were given up without forcing the Pakistanis to hand over POJK and GB.

This is without considering historical examples when Islamic raiders would lose battle after battle and Hindu kings would let them go back till the day the Hindus lose and are slaughtered enmasse.

Some good things have come out of this:

* We now know that Chinese radars do not work against Indian supersonic/hypersonic missiles.

* The Indian air defense systems proved themselves by shooting down drones, missiles and aircraft.

* India has changed its soft policy on terror by considering an terror attack on Indian soil to be an act of war.

* India is going to starve them of water. The suspension of the IWT stands.

This is a temporary pause. It is Pakistan's psyche to go running to America for help each time it has been spanked by India. And once it recovers, it tries another "misadventure."

While it is in India's interest to dismember Pakistan into four parts, it is in America's interest to keep the irritant alive. The US let China grow into the behemoth that it is. And it does not want to see this being repeated again with India.

We live in interesting times.