<

U.S. Treads on Indian-Pakistani Sensibilities
Friday, February 22, 2002
By Ehsan Ahrari
Norfolk, Virginia, US-based strategic analyst

As the US military actions in Afghanistan are winding down, it is also becoming apparent that US-India ties will continue to jell, and military-to-military contacts will become more visible than they have been any time in the past.

The zero-sum nature of Indian-Pakistan relations with the United States -- as a result of which, whenever Washington moves closer to one nation the other perceives it as highly deleterious to its own strategic interests -- has never been so apparent as since September 11.

Before this, US-India strategic ties were developing ever so smoothly. The focus of US policy then was on the development of its national missile defense (NMD) system, and renegotiation or even abandonment of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty for the purpose of developing the NMD.

China was regularly, and fervently, described as a "strategic competitor". It was clear, then, that US President George W Bush was intent on confronting China, and the strategic partnership with India emerged as an important aspect of that policy. Another significant aspect of America's confrontational policy toward Beijing was his declaration that his administration would take whatever actions were necessary to protect Taiwan if China invaded it.

Ignoring, if not isolating, Pakistan was only an extension of the Bush administration's policy toward South Asia. Unilateralism in the realm of foreign policy promised to become a hallmark of the Bush presidency.

The events of September 11 changed all that. The focus of the most radical shift in America's policy toward Asia was in South Asia. Within a matter of weeks, if not days, after that day of infamy, Pakistan emerged as an important partner in America's war on transnational terrorism. Economic sanctions on both Pakistan and India were also lifted, and the policy of confronting China was put on hold.

Unilateralism was radically altered, if not completely abandoned, in favor of building an international coalition to combat transnational terrorism.
(More: Asia Times Online News Source)
2002 © The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development.

Dan