For India to grow, prosper and achieve its true potential, it requires peace on its periphery. But this amity has eluded it since 1947. The challenge from Pakistan and China, and now from the China-Pakistan nexus, has not allowed India to break out of its neighborhood quagmire. In the past two decades, the challenges to India's national security have only exacerbated both in complexity and intensity. The seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the complete withdrawal of all the military forces of the United States and its allies have opened up a security void creating a strategic vacuum in the region. It would have profound implications not only for Pax Americana, but for nations in the arc of turbulence. The repercussions in J&K and Punjab would be ominous in the days ahead.