Articles By Col Anil Athale
Red Flag over Kabul
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 05 Mar , 2020
As has been the practice over the years, attention of the entire Indian strategic community is focussed on the effect of US Taliban deal in terms of the threat the emboldened Taliban will pose to...
Role of Military History
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Feb , 2020
Napoleon had once famously said that ‘morale to the material is like three is to one’. Military history that celebrates the glorious deeds of past can boost the morale of soldiers and citizens...
Middle-East Conundrum and Indian National Security
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 24 Jan , 2020
The second decade of the 21st century has had an inauspicious start in the Middle East. The killing of an Iranian General in American drone strike has raised the temperatures in the Middle East to...
Importance of Data Mining for Operational Efficiency
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 03 Dec , 2019
As world in general begins to move towards widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI for short) authentic data becomes increasingly important. Battlefields of the future are no exception. But...
Countering Pakistan’s Kashmir Strategy
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 01 Oct , 2019
Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan Niyazi, in a sense outlined the basic contours of Pakistan’s Kashmir strategy. He harped on bloodbath post lifting of curfew. He also in a way threatened that Indian...
How Indo-Pak Tensions will help us Pullback from Afghanistan!
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Aug , 2019
One is not surprised that lazy strategic analysts and clueless media persons have been taken in by the Pakistani canard that it alone will bring in Taliban to negotiations and ensure peace in...
War Clouds Over Kashmir: Expect Commando Raids!
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 16 Aug , 2019
The abrogation of article 370 by India has put Pakistani army, its ‘real’ ruler, at horns of a dilemma. Indications are that the world body like UN has refused to take up the issue. Pakistani...
Possible Taliban victory in Afghanistan: A double edge sword
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 Aug , 2019
There has been much jubilation in Pakistani strategic circles over the US volte face on Taliban. A desperate US are now ready to deal with the fundamentalist force like Taliban. The Taliban have...
Ushering in a green army!
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 16 Jul , 2019
In 1992, a remark by the then Army Chief, General SF Rodrigues that ‘good governance was as much the business of army!’ was deliberately picked up by a journalist to defame him. The late...
Time and Opportunity for Radical Rethink on Defence!
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 21 Jun , 2019
It has been a long standing demand/suggestion of many military thinkers like late Lt. General Eric A. Vas and Maj. Gen. Keshav Pendse, that defence and security issues should be part of the...
Understanding the Riddle of Indian Defence Dependency
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 Jun , 2019
Part-1 As the first IDSA military history research fellow, I was engaged in studying the Anglo-Maratha wars of 18th and early 19th century. During my research I came across a very interesting...
Looming Shadow of Afghanistan over Kashmir
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 13 Feb , 2019
Kashmir has always had a rather unfortunate linkage with Afghanistan. The brief Afghan rule over valley from 1750 to 1819 is universally regarded as ‘dark age’ by the Kashmiris. In that year...
Lessons not learnt from 26/11
By: Col Anil Athale | Date: 03 Dec , 2018
The 26 November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai was India’s own 9/11. Immediately in the aftermath of the attack several measures were taken to identify and rectify the mistakes of that fateful...
Crossing the Rubicon in Kashmir
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 27 Oct , 2018
As someone who has been involved in study of Kashmir problem since 1991, I was intrigued by the recent media talk of situation having gone back to 1990s. To find out the truth I spent a week in...
Bharat Ratna Vajpayee: An Assessment
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 17 Aug , 2018
On 25 December 2014, the govt. announced the award of nation’s highest civil honour of Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is an honour that should have come to him much earlier, the...
Social Media: emerging threat to internal security
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 Aug , 2018
In the insurgency hit Kashmir valley, spread of social media and cell phones has created the phenomenon of ‘flash crowds’ at the site of encounters. In addition media like face book and you...
Pakistan: Is the leopard changing its spots?
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 30 Jul , 2018
The July 25 elections in Pakistan has led to a change in the government with Mr. Imran Khan, a playboy cricketer, emerging victorious with more than little help from the ‘deep state’. Mr....
Helsinki Summit: Global and Regional Implications
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Jul , 2018
Indians should be pleased with the outcome of the Helsinki summit between Russia and the US as that resolves some of the major security dilemma faced by India. The problem was that while we wish...
The Art of Strategic Messaging and Video of Surgical Strike
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 03 Jul , 2018
Government’s release of the video of November 2016 surgical strike has generated lot of political heat, with the current opposition accusing the government of the day of taking credit for army...
Kashmir : From Azadi to Nizam-e-Mustafa
By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 21 Jun , 2018
Recently a report by J&K police regarding militancy makes an interesting read. The report traces the life cycle of a local militant in four stages. The first stage is where the youngster feels...