With the deterioration in relations between the United States and Pakistan is it clear sailing now in America’s often rocky relationship with India? Not necessarily, writes Daniel Larison in The Week:
As relations between the U.S. and Pakistan reach new lows, building a more stable U.S.-India relationship has obvious advantages for American interests in South Asia. The U.S. and India have enjoyed increased trade and security cooperation over the last decade, and after several decades of troubled relations with Pakistan, India is a natural candidate for a more reliable ally in the region. However, the centerpiece of improved U.S.-Indian ties — the nuclear deal negotiated by the Bush administration — has run into trouble, and could fall apart. Because of its prominence and the political capital expended on the deal — which calls for India to build a wall between its military and civilian nuclear facilities, the latter of which would be subject to Western oversight, in exchange for the U.S. ushering India into the international nuclear community — any failure at this late stage could significantly harm the ability and willingness of both governments to pursue closer ties.
U.S.-Indian ties have been improving ever since the Clinton administration, but traditionally, there has always been an American tilt toward Pakistan, and this tilt has remained in place at the same time that the Bush and Obama administrations have worked to strengthen ties with India. Shortly after President Obama’s election, there was speculation that the new administration might follow through on campaign rhetoric to attempt to mediate the Kashmir dispute in the hopes of gaining more Pakistani support against the Taliban. Outside mediation of Kashmir’s status has long been a Pakistani demand, and the suggestion that Obama might yield to it caused some alarm in India. The idea, however, was quickly dropped once it became clear that it would lead nowhere.
Despite this rocky start with New Delhi, the Obama administration has proved itself to be anything but supportive of Pakistani demands on any issue, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent visit was widely viewed as a move to shore up ties with India as the alliance with Pakistan falters. This could translate into an even stronger relationship with India. However, even after state visits by Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with U.S. support for a permanent seat for India on the U.N. Security Council, there has been relatively little progress in strengthening U.S.-Indian ties. India has no enthusiasm for isolating Iran and has expressed open opposition to the intervention in Libya after abstaining on the U.N. vote, and its efforts to exert influence in Afghanistan provoke mixed reactions from the Obama administration, which is trying to wind down the war there. But all of these hiccups might be expected, so it is the delay in moving forward on the nuclear deal that is perhaps the most disappointing development.
The nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India has run into a new obstacle in India, where a stringent nuclear liability law passed by India’s parliament threatens to delay implementation of the deal indefinitely.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.