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India Is Unconcerned:GROWING US-PAK SECURITY TIES, by Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra, 23 May 2006 Print E-mail
ROUND THE WORLD

New Delhi, 23 May 2006

India Is Unconcerned

GROWING US-PAK SECURITY TIES

By Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra

School of International Studies, JNU

The US-Pakistan security ties and defence relations are intensifying in the midst of an intense debate in the US and in India on the emerging strategic partnership between India and the US.

Interestingly, Indian strategic community and avid watchers of foreign affairs are these days least interested in events related to US-Pakistan relations. Unlike in the past, news relating to defence and security relations between Islamabad and Washington rarely hit the headlines in Indian media and edit-page articles on this issue have also become scarce and infrequent.

Attentive Indian public are more carefully monitoring the debate on the nature of emerging security ties with the US and are hardly interested in US-Pakistan relations. Of course, the public opinion and interests largely depend on news coverage and media highlights.

The Indian media did not highlight enough the recently-concluded five days of talks between American and Pakistan officials aimed at augmenting the strategic relationship between the two countries. The May 1-5 dialogue in Washington was the 17th annual meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Defence Consultative Group.

While this round of meeting was focussed on counter-terrorism and ways to promote stability in South Asia, it was agreed that the Pentagon and the Pakistani military establishment would schedule bilateral military exercises and training activities in 2007. Pakistan has carefully watched, of course with certain amount of disappointment, the rising number of Indo-US military exercises in recent years.

Unthinkable during the Cold War days, the Indian and American military, spanning all services, have conducted numerous exercises in the heat of Agra, height of Ladakh, jungles of Mizoram, blue waters of the Indian Ocean and even the inhospitable climate of Alaska. The scope and sophistication of Indo-US military engagements, moreover, have expanded from exercise to exercise.

There is little doubt that Pakistan, a close strategic ally of the US for decades during the Cold War and frontline state in the war against terrorism since the 9/11 incident, has been helplessly witnessing growth of closer security ties between its erstwhile patron and its one and only rival in the region – India. The excitement over US decision to declare Pakistan a major non-NATO ally was actually short-lived, as the momentum of Indo-US defence and security interactions picked up. While clearing the sale of F-16 advanced fighter aircraft to Pakistan, the US also offered the sale of similar fighter aircraft to India. The Framework for Defence Cooperation signed between India and the US in June 2005 and the Indo-US Nuclear Deal announced in July 2005 have touched Islamabad’s nerves.

President George Bush’s visit South Asia in March last did not go very well for Pakistan. As the nuclear deal in India was inked with fanfare, President Bush openly expressed that Pakistan did not deserve the same. An explosion in Pakistan on the eve of President Bush’s visit was a stark reminder of the focus of the US engagement of Pakistan – countering terrorism. 

Against the backdrop of all these developments, Pakistan is trying hard to improve the image of its relations with the United States. While the American assistance to Pakistan has enabled it to improve its economic performance and rescue the country from becoming a failed state, the US pressure on the front of combating terrorism has created domestic problem for the Musharraf regime. The American military intervention in the North West Frontier Province has challenged Islamabad’s sovereignty at least in the eyes of anti-regime populace in Pakistan.

The supporters of the Taliban have not disappeared from Pakistan and are apparently jubilant over the resurgence of the Taliban forces in parts of Afghanistan. These groups are not only anti-American but also anti-Musharraf. The terrorist groups, which have found it increasingly difficult to continue their Jihad in Kashmir, are also disgruntled elements in Pakistan.

While the Bush Administration has profusely thanked Pakistan for its cooperation in countering terrorism, Musharraf desires to show to his own people that his cooperation with the US is not confined to combating terrorism (read some of his own people). He also wants to convey the message that he is strengthening the military preparedness of his country by forging closer ties with the US in the face of growing Indian power.

The recent defence dialogue in Washington between American and Pakistani officials have to be seen in this emerging context of US engagement in South Asia. The decision to expand military exercises and forge further cooperation in subjects, such as military equipment repair, technology transfers, upgraded or new weapons systems and the interoperability of equipment and tactics between the two nations has been taken to intensify overall security ties between the two countries.

However, the primary aim of the US has been to synchronize and expand efforts against violent extremists. Unlike in the past, the US does not seem to be interested in bolstering Pakistan’s military capabilities to make it even handed with those of India. While Pakistan has been campaigning against the Indo-US nuclear deal in Washington and elsewhere, the Bush Administration has not budged from its stand that India’s case is an exceptional and special one.

The hyphenated relations that the US had with India and Pakistan appear to be a thing of the past. For the first time, the US has positive relations with both India and Pakistan at the same time without invoking zero-sum perceptions in Islamabad and New Delhi. Simultaneously, there are two different trajectories of US relations with India and US counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan.

So long as Afghanistan remains a battleground and the US is committed to eliminate terrorists and extremists from that country and from certain parts of Pakistan, a cooperative regime in Islamabad is desirable. India has little to fear from US-Pakistan engagement. But at the same time, close monitoring of developments in this area is equally necessary.

The peace process in the subcontinent is the longest one so far between India and Pakistan. It has been unfolding under close American watch and encouragement. If it reaches its ultimate goal and India, Pakistan and the US become a stakeholder in South Asian peace, it could benefit the millions in the subcontinent and contribute to lasting peace in the larger Southern Asian region.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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