ABSTRACT
The country with the most continuous and diverse involvement in waging counterinsurgency (COIN) campaigns is India. From the first years after its independence until today, India has been engaged almost continuously against insurgencies fuelled by tribal, ethnic, religious, ideological and external political forces. Certainly, no other democracy since the Second World War has had as much involvement with COIN as India. Yet, India's experiences with COIN have been largely ignored by the United States and other countries (Gill and Lamm 2009) and treated with political neglect and military ambivalence within India (Goswami 2009). The reasons for this lack of external and internal interest in India's COIN experiences are complex, but understanding India's efforts at waging COIN is important for grasping the political and military difficulties democracies face in confronting insurgencies at home and abroad. This chapter describes India's COIN campaigns and identifies themes that emerge from looking across the many and diverse COIN efforts India has mounted. It then proceeds to analyse the key features of the Indian experience of COIN ranging from overarching strategic principles to tactical military adaptations. We also explore persistent problems and future challenges facing India's relationship with COIN theory, doctrine and practice.
