US relies on Pakistan & Afghanistan, not India

Posted on 28 November 2009. Tags: Afghan, China, India, Pakistan

US President Barack Obama’s high-profile dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was intended “precisely to dissolve” some concerns over Indo-Pak relations than it marks New Delhi’s importance for the US in the ‘war against terror’, a Chinese official daily has said.

In an opinion piece, People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of Communist Party of China, said the US mainly relies on Pakistan and Afghanistan instead of India in counter-terrorism in South Asia.

“Indian strategists, however come to realise that US hinges on Pakistan and Afghanistan instead of India in counter-terrorism in South Asia, and India’s involvement in the US efforts to fight terrorism is devised only to ease of the strained relations between India and Pakistan,” the article said.

“As a matter of fact, public opinions however deem that such a vital, high-profile reception of the Indian Prime Minister by Washington was intended precisely to dissolve some concerns for Indian-Pakistan relations,” the article said.

It said ever since Obama assumed presidency in late January, Pakistan has occupied a position of crucial importance in the US’ South Asia policies, and India fears that it would be turned into a “variable factor” itself in complex geopolitical equations with merely a regional role to play.

However, the article refrained from commenting on Singh’s unusual remarks against China during his US visit.

Singh had said India has taken note of “certain amount of assertiveness” by China lately, an apparent reference to its objections over Beijing’s provocative steps.

The article noted that the American side has referred to India as an “indispensable” or irreplaceable partner in the fight against terrorism in the South Asian region and or on whether President Obama’s new Afghan strategy would pay off. Indian Express. US relies on Pakistan and Afghanistan, not India: Chinese media

There is increasing discontent in Bharati political circles about the state of affairs of Indo-US relations. here is a sampling.

”In a nutshell, Singh got a nice state ceremony, China got respect as an equal and Pakistan has got billions of dollars of additional US aid,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. ”India will have to be satisfied with the sumptuous dinner.”

While we [India] were deluding ourselves with Chindia (that China and India will call the shots in the future) and hetting paranoid about Chi-Pak (China and Pakistan are encircling India from two sides), US and China forged a new relationship. And the basis of this relationship is: that they will have their spheres of influence – east, south east and south Asia and Africa for China; and Europe and Latin America for the US. So, it was not just a coincidence that Obama gave China the role of monitor in South Asia. Shobhan Saxena Times of India

Strategically India and the US are growing apart–Great Delhi supporter and Indophile–Stephen Cohen

Why ‘Chinusa’, Chipak will rule the world & Chindia failed–An Indian perspective

Singh failed in the main objective of his visit – to ”operationalise” the nuclear deal concluded in the Bush era. While Obama pledged to ”fully implement” the agreement, potentially crucial details of nuclear technology transfers to India have not been finalised. Matt Wade Herald Correspondent SMH Australia

Obama rebuffs PM Singh–eulogizes Pakistan as important ally

So, what’s in store for India? The only option available to India is junior partnership with both US and China. We can only have a buyer-seller ties with them. They sell and we buy. They sell their nuclear reactors and fighter jets and bankrupt companies to us and we save their economy with our hard cash. It’s the same situation with China. Shobhan Saxena Times of India

Obama rebuffs PM Singh–eulogizes Pakistan as important ally

“It seemed to suggest that India had simply fallen between two stools – Pakistan and China were urgent priorities for different reasons,” Editorial in the Indian Express newspaper Monday, November 23rd, 2009.

We may aspire to a seat at the high table of world power but China is already sitting at the head of the table along with the United States,”…”It has enough IOUs in its pocket to stop anyone from pushing it around. We also are a billion-strong nation, a democracy to boot and growing economically at a still impressive rate given the global conditions. But, realistically speaking, we are a second or perhaps third tier force in the eyes of the United States.” Journalist Gautam Adhikari in the Times of India Monday.