Vaughn’s indifference sent an icy tingle down NeiFs spine, and he could sense that it was affecting the other officers in CVIC as well. Did he simply distrust his own intelligence department? Or was this something more than that, something deeper?
Neil didn’t know, but he knew that Vaughn’s attitude was being marked by the others, and that it could be deadly to the mission, to the men.
Deadlier, perhaps, than a third Indian carrier.
CHAPTER 11
1400 hours, 25 March Headquarters, Indian Defense Ministry
Defense Minister Kuldip Sundarji was a small, mustached man with rimless glasses that caught the fluorescent light from overhead and flashed it back at the generals and admirals sitting at the table. Rear Admiral Ramesh watched as he took a sip of water, then smiled at the assembly of high-ranking military officers arrayed about the conference room table.
“Gentlemen,” he said without other preamble. “I thank you for your invitation to meet with you today. I bring the compliments of the Prime Minister, who is proud and pleased with your prosecution of the war thus far. The Political Affairs Committee has asked me to express their complete confidence in you and your good efforts.”
Ramesh stifled a twinge of impatience. He didn’t like Sundarji, though he understood the man’s obsequious manner and politician’s smile.
The political situation within the Indian Federation was, as always, an extremely delicate one, as was the balance between the civilian government and the military. The Indian Constitution vested command of the armed forces with the President, but de facto control lay with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. The cabinet’s Political Affairs Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, was responsible for all high-level decisions on defense matters. The Minister of Defense was the only true liaison between the Indian government and its military, and there was a tendency for the armed forces to become isolated from government decision making.
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By the same token, though, the government tended to leave military decisions to the military in a live-and-let-live arrangement that both sides found politically useful. As the public clamored for an end to Pakistani border aggressions, the government could truthfully say that the matter was in the army’s hands. And the service chiefs could count on a certain amount of noninterference from New Delhi when they sat down to plan their strategies.
Of course, that put a terrific responsibility on Kuldip Sundarji. The Defense Minister had to juggle two agendas— the government’s and the military’s—and make them come out to the common advantage.
He was, therefore, a master politician. Ramesh distrusted such people.
“General Dhanaraj,” the Defense Minister said grandly. “Would you be so kind as to brief us on the First Corps situation?”
General Sanjeev Dhanaraj scraped his chair back, rose, and walked to the wall map at the head of the table. Unit positions, movements, and defense lines were marked onto a transparent overlay that showed the broad scope and thrust of the war’s first three days.
“Overall, we have every reason to be pleased with the accomplishments of the past sixty hours,” he said. “Intelligence estimates that better than seventy percent of the Pakistani air force has been destroyed or grounded. We have reason to be concerned that a number of F-16 strike fighters, which are, of course, nuclear-capable, are still being held in reserve. Efforts are underway to locate and destroy them.”
He indicated a cluster of marks in the south, a few hundred miles from the sea. “Operation Cobra commenced at 0300 hours this morning. Following massive artillery and air bombardments, a full division is attacking here, at Naya Chor, on the highway from the border to Hyderabad. Two more divisions are in reserve. Our diversionary attacks in the Punjab appear to have successfully pulled Pakistani attention to the Lahore-Islamabad region. Our armor has reported a major breakthrough and is now moving west at a rapid pace. Lead elements have reached the Nara River, and pioneer units are preparing to effect a crossing. Success there will bring us to Hyderabad.”
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The general turned from the map. “Coupled with the planned naval blockade and commando landings along Karachi’s waterfront itself, it is die Senior Staffs belief that we will control the Sindh within another three days. Pakistani resistance can be expected to crumble shortly after that.”