'A different kind of war': Former CDS Gen Anil Chauhan outlines new threats facing India, from cognitive colonialism to Pakistan, China

New Delhi: General Anil Chauhan (Retd), former Chief of Defence Staff, on Saturday delivered the 22nd Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lecture at the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library, Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi.

His address, titled "Threats & Challenges to India's Security", was part of events marking the 139th birth anniversary of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant.

Speaking before a full auditorium, General Chauhan flagged several emerging challenges to India's national security, including shifting geopolitical alignments, rapid technological change, evolving forms of warfare, and the use of information as a weapon.


He noted that as older global power balances erode and new structures remain incomplete, nations are increasingly forming alignments based on narrow, transactional interests rather than durable partnerships. He observed that a country could simultaneously be a trade partner and a technology rival and pointed to a growing tendency among states to treat military force as a primary policy tool rather than a last resort.

He focused particular attention to what he termed "cognitive colonialism," describing it as an attempt to influence how societies understand themselves, form values, place trust, and imagine their future, effectively targeting the human mind rather than territory or infrastructure.

General Chauhan argued that India's response must rest on strengthening national capacity across both traditional and emerging domains. He linked security to broader nation-building, emphasising that strong institutions, foresight to anticipate threats, and an engaged citizenry are essential pillars.

While acknowledging India's growing global appeal, he stressed that attractiveness alone is insufficient without accompanying strength, describing strength not as aggression but as the ability to protect, deter, and make sound decisions, which in turn allows a secure nation to engage confidently with the world without losing its identity.

General Chauhan also spoke on Operation Sindoor, noting that future conflicts would increasingly be fought through cyber operations, electronic warfare, space-based support, economic measures, legal instruments and information campaigns, with these tools often substituting for physical attacks. He said the "old kind of warfare" that countries were used to fighting no longer holds, calling it "a different kind of war."

Raising a series of questions on preparedness, he asked whether India should ready itself for a short, intense war or a prolonged contest of national resilience; whether investment should go toward traditional domains of land, sea and air or newer domains such as space, cyber and information warfare; and whether the country needs mass, dispersion or protection in its force structure.

Turning to Pakistan, he said India's external threat environment is shaped by a range of factors across its borders, including what he described as "long-standing and nuclearised cross-border terrorism". He said Pakistan would remain a major security concern, noting that the existence of nuclear weapons has created a perception of stability at the highest strategic level, which has in turn enabled greater instability at the lower, sub-conventional level - a dynamic he termed the "stability paradox".

As for China, General Chauhan described the challenge posed by India's northern neighbour as distinctly different, longer-term and more complex. He pointed out that the boundary issue remains unresolved, with no mutually agreed definition even of the Line of Actual Control, adding that differing perceptions, combined with ongoing infrastructure development on both sides, create the potential for friction and tension.