Today is the first day of office for the new Chief of Nepal Army, Gen. Rajendra Chhetri. And it goes without saying that this will be his most challenging responsibility.First, the challenges: One sad aspect of Nepali society is that our scholars always talk about making the army more professional, but when it comes to equipping it with modern weapons and equipments to tackle existing and emerging threats, there is a lot of mistaken opposition. There is a group that sees the army as inimical to democracy and goes all out to oppose and create hurdles when it wants to procure the hardware it needs. A major challenge for Gen Chhetri is to convince them that denying the army modern hardware is like refusing to give scalpel to a surgeon.
Another big challenge is to answer the voices calling for downsizing (rightsizing) of the army. These people mistakenly see the army as a drain on our resources and argue for a smaller "ceremonial" army. And of course there is the challenge of limiting, if not totally restricting, the forces (political and others) that want to interfere in the daily affairs of the army in the name of democratization. Let us hope that Gen Chhetri with his tact and diplomacy will convince everyone that national security is everybody's business and make it clear that the army needs support from all to execute its responsibilities effectively.
Besides the aforementioned challenges that have plagued our army for a long time, there is a new challenge Gen Chhetri has to deal with: the problem of knowledge management and knowledge deficit in the army. One day we could have a sensible government that will support the military's hardware modernization efforts, but it's the army itself that has to upgrade its software and this is easier said than done.
National security has moved beyond guns, tanks and manpower. Knowledge/information has now come into the mix. Today's military officers need not only know how to fire a gun, but, also about the geo-political and geo-strategic realities of the region if they are to lead successfully and contribute to regional peace. The highly capable team of the Nepal Army that worked on the Military Doctrine released last year has clearly highlighted the need for information/knowledge. Now, Gen Chhetri can contribute to the real modernization by implementing the Doctrine and the first and perhaps the least controversial step toward modernization would be to emphasize procuring information that can provide the military with valuable intelligence and knowledge.
The top-brass of the army is highly educated and possesses real-world knowledge. But their knowledge and experience often goes unnoticed. The state and the officers themselves spend valuable resources to become capable but due to various factors it becomes difficult to make use of what they know. Therefore to take maximum advantage of their knowledge, regular seminars (some open to public, some closed) on geopolitics and national security should perhaps be organized. Similarly, as the Military Doctrine released last year has pointed out, to supplement the knowledge base in the army, it needs to work with civilian think tanks. This will be terra incognita for Nepal Army, but, other armies have been doing it for a long time.
In our context, it is difficult to find independent think tanks or the ones funded by Nepali government or private businesses. Therefore, the army needs to first find think tanks that do not receive money from foreigners and encourage our scholars to establish think tanks, then either overtly or covertly support their research, and or when the situation demands, ask them to conduct research on local, regional and global issues. The army needs to make maximum use of domestic expertise on climate change, environmental issues, economics, international relations and information technology and cyber-security to supplement and upgrade the existing knowledge in the army.
Moreover, in today's world only an informed/knowledgeable army can promote the country's foreign policy objectives because the first and foremost objective of any country's foreign policy is to preserve its independence and territorial integrity. Sadly, the role of army in the conduct of foreign policy has been largely ignored; national security has found little or no importance in our foreign policy. Our politicians mistakenly believe that foreign policy is their turf and as such Nepal has not been able to move beyond the Great Unifier's dictum of "a yam between two boulders." Of course, we cannot change our geographical reality but we can become a major strategic player regionally, if not globally, if we play our cards well, just as Mongolia has done.
Mongolia's geography is similar to ours. Surrounded by two big neighbors, Russia and China, Mongolia has adapted the third neighbor policy to reach out to the world without jeopardizing its relations with its giant neighbors. The Mongolian Army through its peace-keeping operations, military diplomacy and participation in NATO activities/programs has helped Mongolia overcome the small country syndrome that we also seem to suffer.
Our army serves in various peace-keeping missions and it is a matter of pride that we are the sixth largest troop contributor to the UN peacekeeping missions. Now the goodwill our army has earned through its selfless duty and sacrifice need to be incorporated in our foreign policy. Military-to-Military cooperation, joint-military exercises, participation of our military in operations/activities/programs of regional security organizations should be encouraged by political leaders and civilian bureaucracy to enhance our image abroad. And for this, the army officers too should have an up-to-date knowledge and information about the issues affecting regional and global security.
Changing regional security dynamics means Nepal's international image will increasingly depend on the knowledge and capacity of our army and the sincere efforts of government to use the army as a tool of our diplomacy. Convincing this to the skeptical leaders and a segment of population will not be easy for Gen Chhetri. He will need officers, both seniors and juniors, who can, beyond firing a gun, also be able to convince the skeptics the importance of a symbiotic relationship between the state and the army. Therefore, upgrading the software should be the first step at real modernization of our army.
Gen Chhetri's predecessor Gen Gaurav Rana released the Defense Doctrine, a blueprint for our national defense and security. Now the onus lies on Gen Chhetri to implement it. Hopefully, during his tenure, Nepal Army's international contributions will be taken seriously and its global goodwill will be used as a valuable asset by our political leaders and bureaucrats to come up with a foreign policy that further strengthens national security and that truly reflects our collective desire to reach out to the world. And for this to happen, Gen Chhetri will need knowledge in his arsenal.
Let's wish him luck.
trailokyaa@yahoo.com
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