India and the US have denied reports that Washington was urging New Delhi to pull back troops from the Pakistan border. While this may be true, there is no denying that in the days to come, as the Barack Obama administration tries to get its Afghanistan-Pakistan policy in place, there will be enormous pressure on India to address the core issue of Kashmir. And that could hit the growing warmth in Indo-US ties.
With the US ready to placate the Pakistan army and get it to act against the Taliban forces in Afghanistan, Washington will be ready to buy the military’s argument that unless its concerns on Kashmir are addressed, its eastern border with India will not stabilise. While no government in Delhi will take dictation from Washington, there will be more and more pressure on the next government to move on Kashmir.
Influential US Democratic senator Carl Levin, chairman of the senated armed services committee, spoke on Friday of American concern at growing tension between nuclear armed India and
Pakistan after 26/11. “The recent unrest in Pakistan and the continuing threat of terrorism in both Pakistan and India highlight the precariousness of the situation there,” Levin said at a Congressional hearing.
Democrats have always been intrusive on Kashmir, and even before taking office Obama spoke of the need to get India and Pakistan down to finding an amicable solution to a problem that keeps South Asia on the boil.
New Delhi will certainly point out that it is not Kashmir, but Pakistan’s decision to organise terror strikes from its soil on targets in India that is at the root of the current tension. But with Washington needing the Pakistan military’s help, it is unlikely to pay much heed to this argument.
It is not only on Pakistan that Delhi and Washington differ, but also on Afghanistan. The US talk of deals with the good Taliban has not been received well by Delhi. Indian ambassador to the UN, Nirupam Sen, said at the UNSC on Thursday. “Doubts, hesitation and divergences in the international community in the fight against terrorists would only weaken the collective will,” Sen said. He warned against attempts to distinguish between “good” and “bad” Taliban and asked the international community to get beyond the “unworkable” efforts of sifting the two.
