“When you defeat them on battleground, nation is prepared to have peace with you on your terms”: NSA Ajit Doval

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Friday stressed the critical role of the nation’s will in securing lasting peace post-conflict and questioned the core objectives of warfare.

He said that the way to achieve military objectives is by breaking the will of the nation and defeating their Army breaks the nation’s will.

“Why do we fight the wars? Is it for some vicarious pleasure in killing the adversary’s human resources? What are our military objectives and how do we achieve them? We achieve it by breaking the will of the nation and defeating their army breaks the nation’s will. When you defeat them on the battleground, the nation is prepared to have peace with you on your terms,” Doval said at the launch of Indian Strategic Culture by Maj Gen (Retired) Dr GD Bakshi.

He suggested that nations often overlook this vital aspect of strategy, instead focusing on military manoeuvres and armament rather than the collective resolve of their citizens.

Drawing parallels to ongoing conflicts, the NSA said, “Whether it is Ukraine, Russia, or any war, one of the major tasks that was neglected was creating and strengthening the national will.”

He further invoked the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, who, over a century ago, championed the notion of fostering national willpower and said “About 100 years ago, one person who rose to do that was Swami Vivekananda.”

Doval also emphasized the need for a robust counter-narrative on social media to safeguard the morale of India’s defence forces and national integrity and said that the credibility of social media is slowly eroding.

“Social media needs to be countered using social media…The credibility of social media is slowly eroding now. You should focus on searching and exposing stories on social media that show total and blatant lies. This can be done by presenting some photos etc,” Doval said.