POV: Unnamed European News Source
The Mongol-Zanzibari war raging in Central Asia quickly took a turn for the shocking over the last few weeks. What seemed like an obvious candidate for stalemate due to the large quantities of mountainous and desert terrain turned into something much different. The Mongol strategy at first simply sought the capture of Tajikistan. The Zanzibaris, realising this, quickly mobilised their forces to capture Karachi and the remainder of Pakistan in order to greaten their capabilities to wage a drawn out war of attrition. You could've said that had this gambit succeeded, the Mongols would've been a 5 while the Zanzibaris were a 3. The playing field would have become very even then and things were likely to come down essentially to a dice roll's chance.
The Mongols figured that the Zanzibaris would employ this strategy, and diverted all of the extra forces they could into incurring into Pakistan to cut off supply lines in the northern Indus Valley that lead into the capitol region. The plan was for this expeditionary force to be a mere nuisance, their sole object was to keep the enemy at a material disadvantage while their main force launched a full frontal assault into the heart of Outer Heaven. There was no intention to carry out any large scale conquest of Pakistan, they sought merely to delay the flood of resources that would invariably come with the Zanzibari capture of Karachi.
Yet this conquest is exactly what ended up transpiring. While the main front ground down to a stalemate due to rugged terrain among other factors, the small and outnumbered detachment that the Mongols sent to disrupt Pakistani operations kept making gains. After a few days they had more than succeeded at their goal of destroying supply hubs and even captured the major city of Peshawar. Many thought that the gains would stop there, but the advancements just kept coming and coming. By the time a few weeks had passed, the Mongols had overran virtually all of Pakistan.
The last remnants of the Zanzibari forces that were assigned to this front are currently camped out in Karachi, under siege and surrounded on all sides by the enemy. It is likely a matter of time until the city falls, and with this all of Pakistan will fall into Mongol hands. As for what could've caused this breakthrough, it is speculated that the Mongols employed a new unheard of strategy that emphasised fast-moving light tanks and offensive warfare. You could perhaps call this a sort of spiritual successor to the lightning paced horse archery of yore. Though the Mongols initially struggled to break through the portion of the Himalayas situated in the north, once through the relatively low lying topography that characterises the remainder of the country proved quick to fall.
Although it appears that Zanzibar is on the back foot for now, it is not impossible that they could still mount a comeback. Though their operations in Pakistan may have failed quite badly, their soldiers have showcased remarkable fighting acumen on the main front. They have also assassinated many high ranking Mongol officials. This includes general and rumoured longtime friend of the Baron Alexei Kursanov, the only Russian that was apart of the general staff besides von Ungern himself. This is said to have sent him spiraling into a deep depression, and may influence his foreign policy decisions moving forward.
POV: Mongolian General Staff Room
After the smashing success of the Pakistani campaign, Mongol forces will attempt to capture what's left of Pakistan. The rest of our military efforts will go towards breaking the stalemate on the main front. This is the decision that the top generals have come to, with the Baron absent presumably due to his mental state.
