Prioritizing Strategic Interests in South Asia

Abstract

The focus on the war in Afghanistan has prevented the United States from developing a South Asia strategy rooted in the relative strategic importance of the nations in the region. India, a stable democracy enjoying rapid growth, clearly has the most potential as a strategic partner. Pakistan, as the home of al Qaeda leadership and over 60 nuclear weapons, is the greatest threat to regional stability and growth. Yet Afghanistan absorbs the vast majority of U.S. effort in the region. The United States needs to develop a genuine regional strategy. This paper argues that making the economic growth and social reform essential to the stability of Pakistan a higher priority than the conflict in Afghanistan is a core requirement of such a strategy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA522280

Entities

People

  • Robert B. Oakley
  • T. X. Hammes

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asia
  • Congress
  • Continents
  • Education
  • Governments
  • Local Governments
  • Management Personnel
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Personnel Management
  • Security
  • South Asia
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Training
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies