Underlining the centrality of India and the Indo-Pacific in the US’ geostrategic worldview, the newly-appointed chief of the United States Army said no one fights alone anymore.
Gen George—on his first overseas visit after taking over as the US Army chief just five days ago—was speaking at the Indo-Pacific Army Chiefs Conference (IPACC) in the national capital on Monday: “The US Army is a global force. And we must be able to fight and win anywhere. But we know we don’t fight alone. We will fight with our joint teammates, alongside our allies and partners.”
Of the lessons learnt from the ongoing Ukraine war, General Randy George said the biggest one is the importance of partners and allies. “The biggest thing that we have seen is the importance of relationships… and having allies and partners together which I think is the biggest benefit that we are going to get out of this (the conference).”
The armies of India and the US are co-hosting the three-day conference of chiefs of armies and military delegates of 35 countries.
He said the Indo-Pacific is a critical priority for the US, and added, “That is why we are out here and why we exercise more than anywhere else in the Pacific.”
In a region where China is asserting itself militarily much strongly than ever before, General George—without naming the Asian giant—said, “The role of our armies is to hone our skills together. As we train and work with each other our confidence on one another grows as well and that confidence leads to unity and collective commitment across the region.”
“We do face a challenging strategic environment. But this is nothing new. We have overcome challenges in the past and we will overcome them together in the future.”
On the need for change in war-fighting methods, Gen George said, “We have to transform because the character of war is changing at the fastest rate I have seen in the past 40 years. We know we have to be leaner and more mobile with low signature, the importance of long-range fire...”
Gen George also spoke on developing the “ability to project our formations whenever needed, wherever needed, anywhere around the world and to sustain them at scale.”
Addressing the conference, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pointed out that the Indo-Pacific is no more a maritime construct, but a full-fledged geo-strategic construct, and the region is facing a complex web of security challenges, including boundary disputes and piracy.
Indian Army chief Gen Manoj Pande said in his address: “Our (IPACC countries) methods may differ but the goal is the same and that is a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Saying that the interaction is a great opportunity to learn from each other and was “invaluable for collective pursuits in the years ahead”, Gen Pande pointed out that the entire exercise “is not directed against a county or a group of countries. We are therefore looking at an open and a sustained dialogue.”
