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United States rightly used Pakistan’s volte face with the Taliban to its advantage in the War on Terror but now realizes that in the long run, aligning with an ever-demanding ally might not bode well for its security concerns as well. Let us hope the higher ups listen to Cato.
Such a policy shift would reflect present-day reality: Westernized and secular India is a stable democracy and a rising regional power, not a de facto client of the Soviet Union, as it was widely presumed to be during the Cold War. With the Cold War order long since dismantled, the United States has a clear interest in establishing strong ties with India, whose political, economic, and military clout places the country in a position to counterbalance even an increasingly assertive China. As the world’s largest democracy and an important bilateral trading partner with the United States, India, not Pakistan, should be the focus of long-term U.S. policy in the region.
On the other hand, Daniel Drezner, another popular blogger points to an interesting article in TNR Online written by Sumit Ganguly. The author looks at US-India relation in the post-tsunami future.
India finally seems to have overcome its apprehension of American assistance and is even willing to take a lead in assisting disaster-hit areas. Some signs of moving from merely a developing nation to becoming a force to reckon with are clearly evident. Like they say, its all in the mind.
by Patrix | on Tuesday, February 1st, 2005 at 8:00 am | 
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February 1st, 2005 at 10:19 am reply
and about time too!
February 1st, 2005 at 11:43 am reply
Ashi - Slowly but surely it is happening. It will take time for the old guard to step down though and the Cold War mentality to fade.
February 1st, 2005 at 7:40 pm reply
Tsunami and Indo-US relations
When the Congress Govt. with Communist support came into power in India there was a fear that the relations that the previous NDA Govt. had built with United States and Israel would erode. But on the contrary, the relation seems…
February 1st, 2005 at 11:09 pm reply
For long we have been complaining that the US looks at India and Pak in relation to each other. We have wanted to be seen as an independent entity in our own right - only then would the US be able to see us as a true World power (or at least a blossoming one). And yet, every time the US smiles at Pakistan we get a stroke.
While US largesse to Pak is a concern of ours, we must delink ourselves from Pakistan in our own minds in the context of Indo-Pak relations, BEFORE we can expect the US to do the same.
February 2nd, 2005 at 8:18 am reply
Kiran - What impressed me was not that they were exhorting India’s virtues over Pakistan. They were merely pointing out Pakistan’s unreliability, which then naturally leads them to India. Dependence might be bad but equal cooperation is always welcome. Heck, even US needs it fledging ally Britain to justify actions outside its borders.