The country’s former Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said that the army is a direct extension of political will. The political interests of a country are paramount and the army is one of the many means of protecting those interests. The former CDS said- “Let’s start with the fact that politics and war are not different. Clausewitz had said that war is the pursuit of politics by other means.” Former Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan discussed Operation Sindoor and its aftermath in New Delhi on Tuesday. This event was organized by Vivekananda International Foundation. During this, the former CDS talked about the relationship between national security and democratic governance. Chauhan said – War and politics are not different. General Chauhan mentioned the famous statement of Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz that war is a way to pursue politics through other means. He said, “The political interests of a country are paramount and the armed forces are just one of the means to protect them. There are many such means.” Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz’s book ‘On War’ (Vom Krige) is considered the cornerstone of modern Western military theory. The book was published after his death in 1832 by his wife Marie von Brühl. Clausewitz took part in the campaign against Napoleon. Army’s responsibility to give military option to the government General Chauhan said that in a democracy, when the government decides to use force to achieve its political objectives, then the responsibility of the army is two-fold. The former CDS said that to create as many military options as the government wants, the same amount of money will have to be spent on developing defense capabilities in peacetime. The military leadership has to provide the government with 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 defense forces or the army is twofold.” Options increase through training and maneuvers General Chauhan said that the number of military options and their quality do not arise suddenly. For this, continuous preparation has to be done during peace time. This involves rigorous training, maneuvers and planning for different possible scenarios. “The options also depend on what kind of training the military leadership has done, what kind of maneuvers they have conducted and what possible scenarios they have worked on. This increases the number of options available to us,” he said. He also said that every military option carries some kind of risk. Commanders and leaders have to balance this risk with the political outcome to be achieved. General Chauhan said, “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.” The impact of Operation Sindoor is still a matter of strategic discussion. It has been almost 15 months since the major active operations of Operation Sindoor ended. General Chauhan said that despite this, the strategic impact of the operation remains and experts in strategic matters in India as well as abroad are keeping an eye on it. He said, “It has been almost a year and three months since it ended. In some ways it is still going on. A large part of the active operations has ended, but this topic remains a subject of interest not only in India but also in the strategic community abroad.” He said that assessment of such operations should not be limited to military action only. In this, it is necessary to look together at the lessons learned from the operation, the steps taken to overcome the shortcomings, the changing methods of modern warfare and the uncertainties created in the world. Shortcomings and new challenges from the changing war The former CDS said that the steps taken to overcome the shortcomings revealed during the operation should also be assessed. Along with this, the changing methods of war and the broader geopolitical environment will also have to be kept in mind. He said, “The shortcomings that people saw in this operation, the steps taken to correct them, the changing methods of warfare and the uncertainties in the world together pose a new kind of challenge to all of us.”
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पूर्व CDS अनिल चौहान बोले- युद्ध और राजनीति अलग नहीं: सरकार को ऑप्शन देना सेना की जिम्मेदारी; ऑपरेशन सिंदूर विदेशों में भी चर्चा का विषय
