U.S. policy toward India and Pakistan in the post-cold war era

Abstract

Realism has been the driving force for U.S. policy toward South Asia. The end of the Cold War freed both the United States and India from the Soviet factor. Washington and New Delhi accelerated the pace of improving relations with each other; meanwhile, the strategic importance of Pakistan to Washington declined. The United States imposed sanctions against Pakistan in 1990 because it would no longer tolerate Islamabad`s clandestine development of nuclear weapons. The Clinton administration adopted a policy of tilting toward India, considering India a more important partner than Pakistan in political, commercial, and potentially strategic terms. The long-standing policy of preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in South Asia suffered a sudden death when both India and Pakistan openly held nuclear tests in May 1998. Washington retaliated by imposing sanctions against them; however, the sanctions failed to change their nuclear policy, and the United States soon lifted part of the sanctions. The George Bush administration inclined to adopt an "India First" policy toward South Asia, but the September 11 attacks dramatically restored Pakistan ` strategic importance to Washington. In order to win the support of Pakistan for the anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan, the United States has had to adopt a balanced policy toward India and Pakistan and lifted all the sanctions imposed in 1998.