Twitter
Advertisement

Warfare, as a war veteran sees it

Ajay Singh's book talks about changing nature of armed conflicts in the recent past

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The 20th and 21st centuries will be known for many noted accomplishments. Technological advancements, economic empowerment across the world, abolition of unsavoury practices like apartheid - the list is long. However, these two centuries will also be known for its darker highlights, most prominently the lost list of wars that were fought. You had two World Wars, oil wars, border disputes, nuclear weapons, civil wars, among others, employing new-age arms, ammunition and tactics. Former armyman Ajay Singh’s recently released book, A Spectrum of Modern Warfare, broadly talks about armed conflicts in the recent past and their changing natures, covering a wide range of wars, from the Gulf War II, to Kashmir and the Sino-Indian tensions.

The highlight of warfare in the 20th and 21st centuries, according to Singh, is that many of the conflicts have been unconventional. He defines unconventional as “conflict fought by a non-state actor”. “Your regular tanks and other equipments haven’t been a hallmark of modern warfare. Instead, it has been characterised more by terrorism, sabotage, ambushes and guerilla tactics,” says Singh, adding that a remarkable aspect of this, is also that unconventional armies have even been able to defeat conventional armies in regular, old-school warfare. He cites the example of Hezbollah defeating the Israeli army in 2006 to illustrate this.

Terrorism over the past couple of decades, particularly by means of infiltration, has been a devil that India has found difficult to deal with. Singh says that this has been a fallout of the first Gulf War. “After the United States pulled out of Afghanistan in 1987, many Mujahideen were rendered unemployed. Thereafter, the Jammu & Kashmir problem intensified,” says Singh. He adds that terrorism in the Valley is now not as big a trouble as it once was, primarily because Pakistan has enough of its own troubles to deal with.
Islamic fundamentalism, which has often been blamed as the root cause of most armed conflicts in present times, is something that has been able to dominate only those countries which have been weak nation states, according to Singh. “Countries like Pakistan, Tunisia and even Syria are essentially weak. Religious fundamentalism hasn’t been able to take firm root in India though, because India, despite all its evils, is a strong state. Moderate voices have prevailed here,” says Singh.

About the American-led wars in the Gulf post 9/11, Singh says that while the US was right in going after Osama Bin Laden to avenge the World Trade Center attacks, targeting Saddam Hussain with a hackneyed theory like Weapons Of Mass Destruction was wrong. However, he adds, that the US wouldn’t dare pull stunts like that now.

“Public opinion is largely anti-war. They have incurred huge monetary losses and lost lives during this long war. That is probably why the Americans didn’t interfere in Syria, and also kept from directing involving themselves in Libya,” says Singh.
India’s conflict with China across the border keeps raising its head, but Singh says that he forsees no war between the two countries.

“In the part titled ‘Future Flashpoints’ in my book, I talk about this issue. In most likelihood, there will be no war between India and China. That’ll probably be left to another generation. Besides, India doesn’t have the necessary capabilities or infrastructure to take on China,” he said.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement