In February 1999, Pakistani Army personnel, disguised as jihadi militants, infiltrated into mountainous Kargil and occupied key vantage points. Their intrusion triggered a limited war between the world's newest nuclear states. It was a bitter battle, and one that threw up important lessons for India's defence preparedness, as also its responses to conflicts such as this. This incisive book by General V.P. Malik, former Chief of the Army Staff, analyses the reasoning behind the Pakistani Ar...

A book on India's defence and military diplomacy from a Chief of the Indian Army General V.P. Malik, Chief of the Indian Army from 1 October 1997 to 30 September 2000, writes about his experiences in the field and important strategic events in which he was involved during his service. He has focused on decision-making processes that were followed at the political and military strategic levels as well as at the operational level. In India, such important decisions are seldom recorded in det...

Operation Cactus was a unique mission for the Indian Army. Within hours of receiving an appeal for assistance from the Government of Maldives, Indian troops rescued President Abdul Gayoom and foiled a coup detat attempt by rebel forces led by Abdullah Luthufi and assisted by the Tamil secessionist group from Sri Lanka, the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). On the notice of a few hours, the Indian military put together a strong task force that flew non-stop over 3,000...

""General Malik's book...stands out as perhaps the most valuablecontribution to our military literature since Independence.""-The Tribune""Malik deserves credit for a frank and refreshing analysis of thefirst limited war fought by two nuclear powered states. His theoryabout the possibilities of further conflict would go a long way inshaping India's military strategy.""...

Jews who have made India their home have flourished without adverse discrimination. Of this, the Baghdadi Sephardic community is very small in number but has produced one of India's greatest contemporary soldiers, Lt Gen. Jack Jacob. This is his fascinating story. As a small boy, Jacob, who was from a business family, was sent to a residential public school in Darjeeling along with his two brothers. When the Second World War broke out, Jacob without informing his family joined the army in ...

In 2009, the Sri Lankan government forces literally eradicated the Tamil Tiger insurgency after 26 years of civil war. This was the first time that a government had defeated an indigenous insurgency by force of arms. It was as if the British army killed thousands of IRA cadres to end the war in Northern Ireland. The story of this war is fascinating in itself, besides the international repercussions for terrorism and insurgency worldwide. Many countries involved themselves in the war to arm...

For the first time, the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, has made public the official records of the 1965 war with Pakistan. This book provides the detailed military history as per military records maintained by the History Division of the MoD.

The uprising in Libya in the spring of 2011 took the world by surprise. The Gaddafi regimes brutal attempts at suppressing the uprising, however, soon prompted the international community to respond. NATO agreed to impose a no-fly zone across Libya, which was led by Britain, France and the USA.For the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, the deployment of RAF and Royal Navy assets in support of UN Resolution 1973, came at a time when severe cuts to the UKs defense spending were in the pr...

The end of the Cold War introduced an altered global dynamic. The old bond of East/West patronage in Africa was broken, weakening the first crop of independent revolutionary leadership on the continent who no longer had the support of one or other of the superpowers. With collapse of the Soviet Union, all this changed. The question of global/strategic security devolved into regional peacekeeping and peace enforcement, characterized primarily by the Balkans War, but also many other minor re...

India has long been motivated to modernize its military, and it now has the resources. But so far, the drive to rebuild has lacked a critical component-strategic military planning. India's approach of arming without strategic purpose remains viable, however, as it seeks great-power accommodation of its rise and does not want to appear threatening. What should we anticipate from this effort in the future, and what are the likely ramifications? Stephen Cohen and Sunil Dasgupta answer those c...

India is the world's tenth largest economy and possesses the world's fourth largest military. The subcontinent houses about one-fifth of the world's population and its inhabitants are divided into various tribes, clans and ethnic groups following four great religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Framing the debate using case studies from across the region as well as China, Afghanistan and Burma and using a wealth of primary and secondary sources this incisive volume takes ...

"General McChrystal is a legendary warrior with a fine eye for enduring lessons about leadership, courage, and consequence." —Tom BrokawGeneral Stanley McChrystal is widely admired for his hunger to know the truth, his courage to find it, and his humility to listen to those around him. Even as the commanding officer of all U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, he stationed himself forward and frequently went on patrols with his troops to experience their challe...