ABSTRACT
India's limited success in resolving its numerous insurgencies stands in counterpoint to four distinct cases of success. These serve to identify four key parameters of engagement of what can be termed an Indian strategic approach to counterinsurgency: identifying a lead counterinsurgent force (i.e., establishing primacy); launching population-centric operations; avoidance of excessive force; and directing operations to preparing a ground for a political solution. While the country does not yet have comprehensive counterinsurgency doctrine, these four components together comprise a strategic approach. Analysis of selected alternative cases, though, reveals an inability to adhere to the strategic approach. Intervening political considerations, incapacity to maneuvre through the demands of various stakeholders, and the wish to expedite the decimation of insurgent organizations through kinetic efforts have produced a long history of failure.
