In the space of a decade, the United States and India have travelled far in a relationship clouded by the Cold War when they were on opposite sides.
From U.S sanctions on India for its nuclear tests in 1998 to a civilian nuclear energy deal that opens access to international nuclear technology and finance, while allowing New Delhi to retain its nuclear weapons programme is a stunning reversal of policy and one that decisively transforms ties.
America has also ’soberly’ after decades of differing over counter-terrorism priorities become a vocal
supporter of India’s concerns over the use of Pakistani territory for Islamist militant groups, says the Asia
Society in a report laying out a blueprint for an expanded India-U.S. relationship ahead of
President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday.
Indian and U.S. interests have converged and “never in history have they been so closely aligned,” the report by an Asia Society Task Force says, arguing for a still deeper security and economic engagement between the two large democracies.
Click here for a PDF of the report
The Obama administration must keep India as one of its top foreign policy priorities, Richard Holbrooke, chairman of the Asia Society and who has been talked about as a possible envoy to South Asia, and Vishakha N.Desai, president of the Asia Society, say in a joint foreword
Besides the players involved, the report is also interesting because it adopts a rather different tone on India’s relations with Pakistan and especially Kashmir to some of the policy prescriptions offered by some other influential U.S. think tanks such as the Center for American Progress.
This is how the task force suggests the incoming administration boost security engagement with India:
• Establish the closest possible consultation on all security issues in the entire region
• Reiterate commitment to “dehyphenation” (meaning U.S. ties with India and Pakistan are not a zero-sum game and must be carried on over different tracks)
• Discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan strategies frankly and in deep detail
• Listen closely on Kashmir, encourage the India-Pakistan composite dialogue, but do not try to mediate.
Music to New Delhi’s ears? Yes, but the Asia Society also cautions that the old “Great Game” suspicions over Afghanistan remain, and Pakistan sees India’s engagement there as a threat to its vital interests.
“The United States may well have to play a role in making certain India clarifies its objectives in Afghanistan and transmits those to Pakistan, while ensuring that our own dialogue with India addresses India’s role in Afghanistan and how it can be most constructive. By the same token, the U.S. will need to be forthright with Pakistan about its consultations with India and India’s importance in stabilizing Afghanistan,” it says.
A book released by the United States Institute for Peace focused on Afghanistan also stresses the key role Kabul’s neighbours play on the security situation in the country. “Regional competition continues to undermine Afghanistan’s long-term prospects, whereas renewed regional cooperation could provide a significant security and economic boost in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region as a whole,” the book titled The Future of Afghanistan argues, according to this note.
But there are no barriers to India and the United States sharing a close relationship on dealing with militancy, the Asia Society report says, arguing that the two countries vastly expand their ties in this area on the lines of cooperation with the UK, Germany, or Australia.
In the mid to long term, America could think of expanding the “Five Eyes” (Canada, US , UK, Australia, and NZ) intelligence-sharing network to six, bringing India on board, it says.
And on nuclear issues, it endorses the far-reaching deal signed by the Bush administration and calls for implementing the promise of nuclear trade between the two countries immediately. It also says New Delhi must be given membership in security and nonproliferation regimes such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group and the Zangger Committee.
A bit of irony there actually, given that the Nuclear Suppliers Group came into being following India’s first set of nuclear tests in 1974 with the idea to clamp down on nuclear exports.
The Asia Society report also calls for including India in the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) review conference in 2010, which is equally interesting given New Delhi’s long-standing position that the NPT is discriminatory. So is this the end of nuclear apartheid as far as New Delhi is concerned now that it is being given a seat on the nuclear high table ?
Ultimately, the United States has to approach India as an equal partner if the relationship has to be taken further, the Asia Society report says. “India is an ancient, proud land and a great civilization; it is an emerging global power and it seeks respect. India is also intensely political—as are we,” the report’s authors say. There will be disagreements just as the United States has with countries such as France, but there is a “strategic interest in seeing India evolve into a democratic, independent power center.”
[Reuters pictures of an Obama sand sculpture in eastern India, U.S and Indian naval sailors on an Indian navala ship near Goa and test site in Pokharan where India conducted nuclear tests in 1998.]
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INDIA AND PAKISTAN JUMPING IN NUCLEAR HELL
- Posted by yousuf gabrielSir, If it is due to ignorance that some authors of India ignore the side of nuclear hazards, then they ought to assume reticence, and if it is the result of blinding zeal then it is the zeal ill-applied, very, such people could not be regarded as the friends of India .And if they are the friends, they are very unwise friends. They exhort their countrymen to jump into the atomic hell. Let the people of India and Pakistan know that the Super-powers have enough nuclear fuel to set all the world on fire. A few nuclear war heads of India and Pakistan would not mean much in the universal perspective. Yet from the economic point of view the affair may prove disastrous, and from the political point of view it surely is the harbinger of nuclear misery and atomic destruction.
Hazrat Allama Muhammad Yousuf Gabriel (RA)
QA St. Nawababad Wah Cantt Distt Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Yousuf_gabriel@yahoo.com
http://www.oqasa.org
A recent study by Top U.S. Defence and Intelligence Specialists says that “Pakistan disappears by 2020, and the Indian Confederation emerges as a regional superstate”.
One more reason for Pakistanis to expatriate to other countries.
- Posted by Deoband Terrorism Watcher@All Paks, all Bloggers
http://www.petitiononline.com/PAK47/peti tion.html
Please review this article by SYED JAMALUDDIN.
He advocates openly and wholehearted disintegration of Pakistan, for the safety of the world.
- Posted by Deoband Terrorism Watcherpakistan is happy making friends with US, but what they dont know is they had already made a death wish by doing that, to realise that see the history of US with pakistan, initially they started on good note with lot of aid to pakistan over decades, but wheel of fortune has changed for them now, they have started experiencing thunder storms by US now on western border which will lead to total tormoil in pakistan with new chapters begining such as BLA rising, fata & swat achieving their own independence, also giving rise to small autonomous states with US neutralising there nuclear arsenal. question will be , would these small states still live with peace, the answer is simple no, analogy with famous ‘kahavat - kutte ki doom’. So, finally india will have to take control of these small lawless states.
- Posted by arunFaraz Kassam,
..Pakistanis are tired of being labelled a failed state..
— Just a beginning, there’s a near end, pls wait with tiring.
- Posted by BloggerFaraz Kassam- honestly,
feel sorry for you, hope things get better, please look into your problems rationally,…a long ordeal man.
spread love and not hatred.Learn from Indian Muslims.(SINCE BEING A pAKISTANI, its your birthright to HATE HINDUS, I KNOW).
good luck.
- Posted by diwakarptHussain,
- Posted by Dazadpyou were balanced unlike most Pakistanis but mislead like all of them.
Two nation theory (land for muslims and hindus) failed because, most of the muslims stayed back in India and lot of hindus disappeared from Pakistan. Muslims do well like anybody else in India. They are not oppressed and don’t need your help.
Indians unanimously agree that they don’t want to annex Pakistan. No thank you. India does not want to annex Bangladesh either. Did they annex Bhutan, Nepal, no. So stop being irrational. Its that they don’t want muslims in Kashmir to be ruled by Pak which failed to protect its citizens, you can see what happened to western Pak now. India cannot lose its land anymore (in the name of Islam). In fact its large muslim population justifies adding more land in the name of Islam. Article 370 is the dumbest one the world has seen in the last 100yrs.
Pakistanis are tired of being labelled a failed state;that is a moniker that is coined by Western armchair critics who have never visited the country
- Posted by Faraz KassamHussain,
Should I assume that you are from Pakistan since you did not answer my question?
You said: “So why do all indians think that Pakistan is the agressor?”
Is there still a debate that Pakistan has attacked India (wars)? Do not blame it on Jihadis. Either you are naïve or baised.
I cannot convince you any further that India is not into “greater India”—Expansion and India kabhi Nahi, I hope you got it. Look how Nehru started India-some call him naïve since he thought neighbors also want what he wants-peace. He said NO to permanent UN membership offer by USA 50-60 yrs ago—rather suggested Chian name who backstabbed India in 1962. The other day my Pakistani co-worker was saying (kind of making fun of India) that India has never been aggressive and attacked another country. I said “Thanks for the compliments” and he was flustered. I see nothing wrong on not attacking your neighbor. If you know enough about India, you will not say India is into”greater India” expansion—insecurity complex can explain that. PLus I would not buy a haunted house–Pak is troubled state (sadly) and strategically Pak as a separate nation gives India a buffer from certain elements that are disturbing Afghanistan. On the other hand look into the larger agenda of LeT and other such organizations—Kashmir is a small issue for them. They want to establish India as an Islamic state if you looking at their websites and are collaborating with other anti-India terrorist organizations. Some article for you:
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/i deologies.pdf
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cach e=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=34319
Pakistan has betrayed the Kashmiris- Muslims and Pundits alike. ISI did Kashmiri Pundit genocide (in one post you were emotionally saying Kashmir will not be complete if Hindu brother/sisters do not come back!!!—yeah to get killed?.Look at some objective analysis of Kashmiris in POK and J&K–you will see how serious Pak is about Kashmir. If you take away religion factor–pak has nothing to offer to Kashmiris (assuming leftover are all Muslims).
Pak is pressing on the brakes and accelerator (???) together and expect the vehicle to move forward. UN resolution on Kashmir issue set some rules to help create favorable conditions for plebiscite–not respected though by Pak. Pakistani troops under the guise of guerrilla infiltrators entered Indian sovereignty that led to wars in 1948, 1965. while India might not be a saint about kashmir, Pak has done an irreparable damage to Kashmir and kashmiri cause. Pak has exploited Kashmir issue–it is just a distraction from other increasing internal problems in Pak. If Pak has been really worried about “Kashmiris”, why Pak ISI initiated terrorism in Kashmir?
POK also called Azad Kashmir is run by non-Kashmiris from Islamabad (so azad is a bogus title!). The stark differences between the so-called Azad Kashmir and Indian Kashmir by any neutral analysis shows the lack of sincerity of Pakistan towards Kashmiris. India has article 370 giving special status including non-Kashmiri cannot buy property in Kashmir, but Pak allowed several thousand non-Kashmiri families to settle in POK; destroyed the original demographics by systematic ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pundits through ISI’s Jihad and at the same time asking for Plebiscite. How many Kashmiris in POK were thrown out of Pakistan (lost jobs in the wake of the construction of Mangla Dam). Now Dam supplies 65% of the Pak electricity needs, but what does POK gets–nothing. Pakistan earns over Rs. 50 crores from the electricity produced at Mangla but the total budget of the Azad Kashmir is 20% of it!!!! Even if Pakistan might be thinking that it is helping Muslim Kashmiris—which it is not—but NO it is hurting and betraying them. And who runs two Kashmirs– Indian J&K (a kashmiri CM) but the PM of POK is from Rawalpindi (Punjabi). Isn’t it, India having a PM from Pakistan.
“It is obligatory to act kindly towards one’s neighbor, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. Violation of this is a cardinal sin. All of them fall under what Allah said (Koran 60:8): ‘Allah does not forbid you from dealing kindly and justly with those who did not fight you over religion and did not drive you from your homes; Allah loves those who deal justly.”
“Do not be aggressors, for Allah does not love the aggressors.”
- Posted by rajeev@Hussain,
- Posted by blogger“GREATER HINDUSTAN”…
THANK YOU, India is not interested to add more population now, and that too a useless people are always a burden for a growing economy.
Peace,
- Posted by blogger…but world has seen who has been terrorizing in Kashmir, Gujrat, Amritsar, Ayodhya and many more places within india…
– So is pakistan sending another set of Freedom fighters to this land…
A cat called Pakistan was closing eyes and having free American Milk($$) all these, and not India tied a Bell (Mumbai attack) it chimed the whole world…
I think you would have had a typo, it should have been …
Pakistan is a PIECE loving country, and not PEACE loving country eg: YOU with the name as PEACE always speak about WAR, ARMY, DRONE (all terms of PIECE).
Well as double standards are concerned, please look @ your foreign minister’s speech yesterday about giving a Blank Cheque to China when Obama told something about Pakistan.
@hussain
There is no such thing like “GREATER HINDUSTAN”, India had not attacked any country for territorial reasons. We are happy for whatever we have. Yes pakistan is an aggressor, four times it has attacked India.
Milliband and Obama also said pakistan is the center of terrorism. And we will will attack pakistan with drones or whatever way we want. Is there any kashmir between pak and USA ?
All rational pakistanis out there can you tell me just one logical answer for this question.
If its for Kashmir, WHAT HAS PAKISTAN TO DO WITH IT?
- Posted by Punjabiyaar@hussain
There is no such thing like “GREATER HINDUSTAN”, India had not attacked any country for territorial reasons. We are happy for whatever we have. Yes pakistan is an aggressor, four times it has attacked India.
Milliband and Obama also said pakistan is the center of terrorism. And we will will attack pakistan with drones or whatever way we want. Is there any kashmir between pak and USA ?
All rational pakistanis out there can you tell me just one logical answer for this question.
If tts something to do with Kashmir, WHAT HAS PAKISTAN TO DO WITH IT?
- Posted by punjabiyaarRAJEEV….
Everyone in Pakistan realises that we can NOT compete with India on any front be it ecnomical, military or democraticaly or institutionaly. Pakistan has always had a policy of defense against its much bigger and powerful neighour. So why do all indians think that Pakistan is the agressor? I am sorry I do NOT buy your argument its illogical for Pakistan to be a bully with its much bigger neighour and sucidal infact.
The fact is Hindustan (land for hindus)wanted to Greater Hindustan. Only recently after the Nuke tests that India has realised Pakistan is there to stay. India sincerely needs to help the democratic powers in Pakistan not for the benefit of Pakistan but for the intrest of India too. Instead of using any attcks to marginalise Pakistan which is NOT as easy as the indians thought.
As recently Mr Miliband and even Mt Obama feel that Kashmir is main problem betwen the two countries. But indians do NOT see the logic in that. I mean if you sing the tunes of democracy then why NOT give the Kashmiris there voice and have a peblcite which is backed by UN resoluition and also promised bu your beloved Nehru.
Why dont the indians want to listen to the kashmiris instead have election and back pro delhi administration. That wil NOT win hearts n minds of kashmiris for India.
Live n let live in peace….
- Posted by hUSSAINpeace wrote:
“US drone are a kind of combine effort otherwise nobody is and will be allowed to use PAKISTAN airspace”
Peace watch carefully your own TV channels and newspapers, US Drone attacks are opposed by everybody in Pakistan, every time a US official comes to pak, from zardari to kayani everybody says “DONT DO THAT” loudly and “please” softly.
I know the capacity of pak airforce, it shot a small Indian spy drone in 2002 with two F-16s. Yes F-16s for shooting a drone. I hope you don’t launch a nuclear missile on a much bigger and capable US drone when US stop paying you $$$.
When your country says “no more drone attacks” but they are still doing it, your security is already breached. So no need to be happy.
India has never made or maintained a relation with a country on the cost of other. We were out of the cold war right from the very first day. It was pakistan who had to choose a side because of the poor economy and unstable govt. US is achieving what was desired, they wanted their base in this part of the world they bought it from you. But they are not going to be blackmailed anymore.
- Posted by PunjabiyaarPeace,
Indeed the drone attacks are a combined effort.
Pakistan is running so low in foreign reserve that it cannot buy oil for its plane. So she is asking US to overlook pakistan’s so called sovereignty and hit targets in her territory.
And then the Paki army helplessly looks and say that they can shoot down the drones but they dont have orders (or may be guts).
Another gems from your stable
Pakistan WAS very weak (As if its not now)
PAKISTAN, a peace loving country! (I’m sure Afghanistan and India will vouch for it)
ha ha ha
- Posted by chirkutwhy don’t you try in Great indian laughter challange. I am sure you will crack better (not vulgar) jokes than shakeel.