The government’s decision to extend General Anil Chauhan’s tenure as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) until May 2026 was hardly surprising. Since his appointment in September 2022, Chauhan has been the government’s point person for military transformation, inheriting the unfinished agenda of his predecessor, the late General Bipin Rawat, following his tragic death in December 2021. His record is a mixed bag defined by battlefield success in Operation Sindoor but overshadowed by the stalemate over theatre commands.

If there is one achievement that will mark Chauhan’s tenure, it is Operation Sindoor . In that high-stakes mission in May, the three services operated from a makeshift Joint Operations Command Centre (JOCC) under the Army’s war room. The operation demonstrated the raw power of i

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