India's time of reckoning.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.

Writing for Commentary, Jonathan Foreman, deputy editor of Standpoint, argues that the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai have prompted Indians to "get serious and make real 'war on terror.'" Though India has experienced many jihadist attacks--witness Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and an earlier assault on Mumbai--the jihadists showed a new face last November and roused India as never before.

What's new? Heretofore, India's masses and its officials had supplied the targets for the terrorists. A nation of a billion people already accustomed to frequent casualties in train wrecks, bus mishaps, and crowd panics quickly accepted past religious violence directed at the masses. Since the 2001 bombing of India's parliament, India has provided elaborate protection for its officials--moderating Indian fears on that score. Last November's attacks on two five-star hotels, on the other hand, struck neither the masses nor officials but the "sanctuaries of the privileged and affluent" and the "well connected and well educated"--India's ruling class, which for the first time now feels insecure.

The Pakistini-based perpetrators of the recent attack on Mumbai, members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), demonstrated a solid understanding of Indian society and knew that a siege directed at the country's English-speaking elite would quickly grab and then hold the attention of the entire nation. They also recognized how the utter incompetence of Mumbai's corrupt police force and the inadequacies of India's special forces would assist their ability to hold hostages for several days and exercise the country's news media.

Under various names, LeT operates "openly" in Pakistan, where it has great political influence and likely has close ties to Pakistani intelligence. India also suspects that the Mumbai attacks had support from within Pakistan's armed forces and its government. Like related global jihadist groups, LeT aims to return Islamic rule to all of Central and South Asia, which makes it a threat to the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.

To respond effectively, India must modernize the organizations that failed to detect, prevent, or efficiently respond to the Mumbai attacks. Purging the Intelligence Bureau of holdovers from the days of India's close relationship with the Soviet Union may cause it to pay closer attention to...