Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan highlighted that politics and warfare are intrinsically linked, with armed forces acting as a key instrument for a nation's political interests. He discussed Operation Sindoor, launched after a terrorist attack, as an example of a successful military response where no capability deficiencies were reported, a marked improvement from past incidents.

Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan highlighted that politics and warfare are intrinsically linked, with armed forces acting as a key instrument for a nation's political interests. He discussed Operation Sindoor, launched after a terrorist attack, as an example of a successful military response where no capability deficiencies were reported, a marked improvement from past incidents.

Former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan highlighted that politics and warfare are intrinsically linked, with armed forces acting as a key instrument for a nation's political interests. He discussed Operation Sindoor, launched after a terrorist attack, as an example of a successful military response where no capability deficiencies were reported, a marked improvement from past incidents.

Politics and war cannot be separated, and the armed forces serve as one of the instruments available to a government to protect and advance a nation's political interests, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has said while speaking about Operation Sindoor.

Operation Sindoor was launched by India in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed.  

On the relationship between political objectives and the use of military power, Chauhan, who was speaking at an event hosted by Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation, said a nation's political interests remain paramount and that the armed forces have a two-fold responsibility when military force is considered.

"Politics and war are inseparable... A nation's political interests are paramount and supreme and armed forces are one of the instruments to protect it," he said.

According to the former CDS, the first responsibility of the armed forces is to provide the government with different options for employing military force to achieve its objectives. The second is to give the political leadership confidence that those options can be successfully exercised.

"The government can have as many options as it desires, provided it has spent that much amount of money during peacetime to develop its capabilities," Chauhan said.

He also highlighted a significant difference between Operation Sindoor and some previous situations involving India's military response.

He said there had been instances in the past when deficiencies in military capabilities were presented before the political leadership. Operation Sindoor, according to him, stood apart in this respect.

"This particular operation stands out in some particular manner in which all three services and I, right from day one, did not bring any of these kinds of deficiencies," he said.

Chauhan pointed out how India's military options had evolved following previous terrorist attacks.

After the Uri terror attack, India carried out surgical strikes using the land route, he said. Following the Pulwama attack, India opted for the air route involving "large force engagements".

During Operation Sindoor, however, a third option was chosen. "During Operation Sindoor, we decided to use a third option, that is, to exploit the lower airspace," Chauhan said.

According to him, this approach offered three advantages: it could keep the threshold of the conflict low, provide greater assurance of success and retain an element of surprise. "That means it would have kept the threshold of conflict low. It would have assured success, and then there would have been an element of surprise," he said.

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