Articles By Col Anil Athale

Amrit Kal Lessons of History

Amrit Kal Lessons of History

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 31 May , 2023

The biggest lesson of Indian history is that we are negligent of our own history and do not know much about it and as a corollary do not learn from it. In my 30 years of study of military...

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Creating a Motivational Environment: A Structural-Functional Approach

Creating a Motivational Environment: A Structural-Functional Approach

By: Col Anil Athale | Date: 11 May , 2023

This essay won a ‘special prize’ in the first Chief of Army Staff Gold Medal Essay competition in 1987. Though dated in some geo-political aspects, it retains its relevance even today....

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Ukraine War: Deconstructing Russian Federation

Ukraine War: Deconstructing Russian Federation

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 Feb , 2023

The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win. As long as this prevails the world is safe. But should Russia come close...

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Obstacles in the Development of Comprehensive National Power

Obstacles in the Development of Comprehensive National Power

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 19 Jan , 2023

The last three years saw a major change in India’s national security environment. On the one hand, Pakistan, beset by internal turmoil and economic bankruptcy faded out, and China emerged as...

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Making up the Military History Deficit: ‘Siachen 1987’ by Lt Gen RV Kulkarni

Making up the Military History Deficit: ‘Siachen 1987’ by Lt Gen RV Kulkarni

By: Col Anil Athale | Date: 04 Dec , 2022

  In 1987 as I finished working on the official history of the 1962 Sino-Indian border conflict, one was filled with sadness at the negative impact all this was bound to have on the readers. I...

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Crossing the Nuclear Rubicon in Ukraine: Long Term Implications

Crossing the Nuclear Rubicon in Ukraine: Long Term Implications

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 29 Sep , 2022

As a longtime student of nuclear warfare, (I began to study it in 1965 as an NDA Cadet, my Staff College dissertation on this subject in 1979 to my book in 1997) one has seen the evolution of...

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Understanding the Strategic Shift in South Asia

Understanding the Strategic Shift in South Asia

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 14 Sep , 2022

Conditioned by decades of ‘passive’ defence policies, most Indians, including military analysts, tend to see the happenings in South Asia in terms of narrow Indo-centric focus. The two major...

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Role of the Armed Forces in Preserving the Nation

Role of the Armed Forces in Preserving the Nation

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 Aug , 2022

As India completes 75 years of independence, it also creates a new landmark in 5000-year-old history of India. If we count the period under British imperial rule (1857 to 1947), then India (most...

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Lessons from War in Ukraine

Lessons from War in Ukraine

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 Jul , 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war that followed has continued for over 100 days. At the global political level this is a continuation of the one-sided conventional wars that have broken out...

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Random Thoughts on National Security Reforms and not tinkering with...

Random Thoughts on National Security Reforms and not tinkering with...

By: Col Anil Athale | Date: 08 Jul , 2022

Luckily the ‘Agniveer’ scheme and violence in its aftermath have faded out of the media due to its cyclic nature. This gives us an opportunity to a calmer refection on the whole gamut of...

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Kashmir Killings: What is to be done now!

Kashmir Killings: What is to be done now!

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 07 Jun , 2022

The selective killings of Hindus and pro India Muslims in the valley are a reminder that war declared on us is not over yet. Right at the outset it must be clearly understood that what the...

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Violence in India: Pakistani Game Plan

Violence in India: Pakistani Game Plan

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 30 May , 2022

There is one constant in Pakistani policy towards India for last 75 years and that is a firm belief that India cannot stay as one nation and will soon breakup into several small parts. In such a...

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Ukraine War: Essence of a Decision

Ukraine War: Essence of a Decision

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 24 Apr , 2022

In a book of the similar title, Prof. Graham T. Allison has analyzed the American decision-making process during the Cuban Missile Crisis of Oct 1962. He mentions how at a crucial meeting just...

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India in a Turbulent World

India in a Turbulent World

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 12 Apr , 2022

The pointless Russian invasion and the images of wanton destruction in Ukraine have been dominating the world stage for last several weeks. Most of us have been unable to understand the current...

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Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Wider Repercussions

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Wider Repercussions

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 Mar , 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began on the 24 of February 2022 is yet to end with the military and diplomatic outcome still mired in uncertainty. However, whatever the ultimate outcome, it...

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Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Limits of Military Power

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Limits of Military Power

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 02 Mar , 2022

On the ‘WhatsApp University’ in India, some time back a ‘fauji’ (in Hindi anything related to the military) article was in circulation that compared the national level mourning on death...

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Some Fundamental Issues: musings of a soldier

Some Fundamental Issues: musings of a soldier

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 16 Feb , 2022

What follows is not a structured military paper but a series of points to ponder over. I begin with some fundamental issues, some universal and some peculiar to Indian milieu. Understanding...

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Preserving the Autonomy of Logic of Force

Preserving the Autonomy of Logic of Force

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 03 Oct , 2021

Legislature, executive, judiciary and press are four pillars of a democracy but there is also a fifth one, the armed forces, without which the other four may not exist. Armed forces are the...

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Afghanistan: From the Perspective of Counterinsurgency

Afghanistan: From the Perspective of Counterinsurgency

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 27 Aug , 2021

The collapse of Afghan army without offering any resistance marks the end of American counterinsurgency operations. After a similar collapse of South Vietnamese Army in 1976, this is a second...

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Is Afghanistan the First Domino?

Is Afghanistan the First Domino?

By: Col Anil Athale | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 Aug , 2021

In the 1960s, “Domino theory’ was a popular phrase used by the Western strategic analysts to justify American intervention in Vietnam. To jog the reader’s memory, the said theory postulated...

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