Recent Geo-Political Developments Reaffirm Relevance Of Hard Power: Army Chief Manoj Pande

New Delhi, Apr 23:
General Manoj Pande, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), on Tuesday said that the recent geo-political developments have reaffirmed the relevance of a country’s hard power.“The current geo-strategic landscape is characterized by Change, taking place at unprecedented scale and speed. Recent geo-political powerplays have displayed, that where National Interests are concerned, countries will not hesitate to go to war. These developments have reaffirmed the relevance of Hard Power,” General Manoj Pande said while addressing participants at addressed participants at the National Leadership Conclave of All India Management Association.
He mentioned that the overall ‘rise’ of a nation can be said to occur when there is a significant and continuous increase in its Comprehensive National Power.
While ‘Economic Power’ is the fountainhead of the growth of the nation, it is the ‘Military Strength’ that lends it the ability to affect the outcomes, necessary to protect and further its multifarious interests, in expanding strategic horizons, he said.
He said that military strength and capabilities are necessary to prevent war to present a Credible Deterrence, also enabling a robust response to threats and winning wars, when required, across the entire spectrum of conflict.
“In our quest to achieve and sustain a ‘Hard Power’ quotient, we need to be alive to the implication of external dependency to meet defence requirements. The impact of supply chain disruptions and weaponization of denial regimes – came to the fore, during the Pandemic and also from the lessons of