Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has said that military power is a direct extension of political will, with a country’s political interests taking precedence and the armed forces serving as one of several means of protecting them.
Speaking in New Delhi on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Vivekananda International Foundation, Chauhan discussed Operation Sindoor, its aftermath and the relationship between national security and democratic governance.
‘War and politics are not separate’
Chauhan quoted Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, who famously described war as the continuation of politics by other means.
“Politics and war are not separate,” he said, adding that a country’s political interests are paramount and the armed forces are only one of the means available to protect them.
Clausewitz’s On War (Vom Kriege), published posthumously in 1832, is considered a foundational work of modern Western military theory.
Army’s responsibility to give government military options
General Chauhan said that in a democracy, when the government decides to use force to achieve its political objectives, the Army has two key responsibilities
- The first is to provide the government with military options to achieve its objectives.
- The second is to build confidence in the government so that it has as many options as possible to choose from, depending on its requirements.
The former CDS said that creating the military options required by the government demands sustained investment in defence capabilities during peacetime. Military leadership must ensure that the armed forces are prepared to offer options that can be used to achieve specific strategic objectives.
He said, “In a political democracy, whenever the government decides to use force to achieve its political objectives, the role of the defence forces or the Army is twofold.”
Training and manoeuvres expand military options
General Chauhan said the number and quality of military options cannot be developed suddenly. They require continuous preparation during peacetime, including rigorous training, military manoeuvres and planning for various possible scenarios.
“Options also depend on the type of training the military leadership has conducted, the manoeuvres it has carried out and the possible scenarios it has worked on. This increases the number of options available to us,” he said.
He also said that every military option carries a certain degree of risk. Commanders and military leaders must weigh these risks against the political outcome that the government seeks to achieve.
“Each option carries a specific risk and also meets the political need for which it is to be used. So, it is a trade-off between risk and achieving political objectives,” General Chauhan said.
Impact of Operation Sindoor remains a topic of strategic discussion
It has been nearly 15 months since the major active operations of Operation Sindoor ended. General Chauhan said the operation’s strategic impact continues to be studied by strategic experts in India and abroad.
“It’s been almost a year and three months since it ended. In some ways, it’s still ongoing. The bulk of the active operations are over, but the subject remains a topic of interest to the strategic community, not just in India but abroad,” he said.
He said the assessment of such operations should not be limited to the military action itself. It should also examine the lessons learnt, steps taken to address identified shortcomings, changing methods of modern warfare and the uncertainties shaping the global security environment.
Shortages and changing warfare pose new challenges
The former CDS said the steps taken to address the shortcomings identified during the operation should also be assessed, along with the changing nature of warfare and the broader geopolitical environment.
He said, “The shortcomings that people saw in this operation, the steps taken to address them, the changing methods of warfare and the uncertainties in the world together pose a new kind of challenge to all of us.”
