Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman addresses the participants of the National Defence Course

Lahore: Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, addressed the participants of the National Defence Course, as a key note speaker at National Defence University, Washington DC, USA.

While speaking at the occasion the Air Chief said, “We want peace with all countries in the region including India, hence the blame game by anyone in this regard does not serve the purpose. First, we have to understand the regional dynamics and secondly, find out comprehensive strategies to fight the menace of terrorism together. Stability in Afghanistan and long term solutions to all the outstanding issues in the Middle East are some of the pre-requisites for ensuring peace in the region. Hence, the Pakistan led peace process in Afghanistan needs to be supported in true letter and spirit and all the stake holders i.e Pakistan, Afghanistan and Taliban should, under the auspices of Pakistan, engage in serious dialogue fully backed by the International community”.

While highlighting the great sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation in the war against terrorism, the Air Chief said that Pakistan, being the most affected country from terrorism has lost huge number of valuable lives and financial resources. He further added that the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan and ISAF must culminate in lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan which is beneficial for the international community in general and the region in particular.

While talking about the concept of air land operations he said, “There is a paradigm shift in threat dimension and complexion in Air Land operations especially after 9/11.  The ongoing anti-terrorist operations in Pakistan which started in 2014 are fully backed by political leadership and owned by the entire nation. PAF, with its wherewithal, has the capacity to operate with total precision, day and night in all weather conditions and its air strikes have caused major blow to terrorists in terms of foreign elements killed and infrastructure destroyed”. He reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to fight against the evil of terrorism and showed his determination to win this war at any cost.

In the end he emphasized the importance of joint operations and said that the coordination between land and air forces is the key to success in any air campaign. He concluded with the remarks that though air power can’t win wars alone; but no war can be won without the application of air power which makes it the instrument of first choice for political leadership in contingencies and crisis situation.

The National Defense University (NDU) of USA was established in 1976 to consolidate the nation’s defense community intellectual resources.National Defense University (NDU) supports the joint warfighter by providing rigorous Joint Professional Military Education to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and select others in order to develop leaders that have the ability to operate and creatively think in an unpredictable and complex world.