Pakistan’s institutions and policymakers, with some rare exceptions here and there, are prone to think and act tactically when dealing with major national issues instead of deliberating and planning in strategic terms.

Ideally, tactical decisions must be made within the framework of a well-thought-out strategy in the interest of safeguarding long-term national interests. Such an approach enables the nation to maintain a sense of direction in its day-to-day policy decisions. It also avoids the danger of lack of consistency in tactical or short-term decisions taken in the heat of the moment in the face of new and unforeseen challenges.

There is a huge body of literature available on strategy in the military field. As elaborated by Liddell Hart, a well-known military thinker of the 20th century, in his classic book ‘Strategy’, the true aim of strategy “is not so much to seek battle as to seek a strategic situation so advantageous that if it does not of itself produce the decision, its continuation by a battle is sure to achieve it.”

Sun Tzu explains the same idea differently: “Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

However, even the military strategy should be formulated and implemented within the framework of grand strategy, which, according to Liddell Hart, is on a higher and wider plane than pure military strategy. To quote Liddell Hart again, “The role of grand strategy – higher strategy – is to coordinate and direct all the resources of a nation, or band of nations, towards the attainment of the political object........

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