High Hopes: India's Response to U.S. Security Policies
Abstract
Compared with America s traditional allies, India has been much more supportive and understanding of the Bush administration's policy initiatives on missile defense, arms control, the International Criminal Court, and the UN role in the management of international security challenges. India welcomes the Bush administration's plans for a greater Indian role in a wider Asian security system so as to create a strategically stable Asia. As a non-status-quo power, India appears more sympathetic than France or China to the American effort to rework the rules of the global game. India wants to work with the U.S. in shaping a new world order that must be constructed amidst the dissolution of the old. On controversial issues such as missile defense and the war against Iraq, the Vajpayee government's stance is dictated primarily by the pragmatic consideration of sustaining improvement in U.S.-Indian ties and avoiding alignment with anti-U.S. forces. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 proved to be a catalyst in improving U.S.-Indian ties, but also complicated them. For example, the war on terrorism has highlighted differences of definitions, sources, and approaches to fighting terrorism. Indian officials increasingly speak of the disconnect between India's expectations of the U.S. and what Washington is able and willing to deliver with regard to terrorist infiltration into Kashmir from Pakistan. Indians believe Washington will have to rethink its strategy if the global campaigns against terrorism and WMD proliferation are to be won decisively. Even as the China factor increasingly draws the U.S. and India closer, the Pakistan factor pulls them apart.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA592229
Entities
People
- Mohan Malik
Organizations
- Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies