The US has a bad record of learning lessons from history. In the short- term interest of
countering Russian influence in Afghanistan back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it
had created the Mujahedeen (now re-christened as the Taliban). Today, the specter of
that ghost still hounds them. But it's not really a ghost is it?
Now, blubbering in Afghanistan, caught in a trap of it's own making, the US does
not know how to extricate itself from this folly!
This dilemma has led to the need by US to involve India more in Afghanistan, which is a complete challenge to the vital interests of Pakistan, America's supposed "ally" in the so-called War on Terror.
The US, however, is overlooking the fact that the security environment in South Asia
has as always been guided by a traditional rivalry, Pakistan and India being the two
players. Ameria cannot simply wish away the reasons for three wars between India and
Pakistan. Reasons that no international forum has shown any interest in resolving.
According to a paper by Syed Shahid Hussain Bokhari, written for the Berkley Journal of Social Sciences and published in January 2011, the strategic balance in the region is maintained by nuclear deterrence and the role of major powers, primarily the US. He correctly states that a US tilt towards India will threaten Pakistan's national interests.
US support for India is driven by a desire to maintain hegemonic superiority over her
perceived rival in the region: China.
India has not accepted any legal constraint against nuclear testing , nuclear testing which might enable India to develop nuclear weapons with much larger explosive power than those currently in the country's arsenal and that in turn would allow important changes in Indian nuclear strategy. For example, larger bombs might allow India to target Chinese or Pakistani nuclear sites that were previously considered safe from attack.
That, of course, could drive Beijing or Islamabad "to develop new nuclear weapons
themselves or to change their currently restrained strategies for usof nuclear arms," as Michael A. Levi and Charles D Ferguson wrote in "U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation A Strategy of Moving Forward," published in the Council Special Report, Council on Foreign Relations (2006: 11).
With a new Indo-US partnership apparently in offing , India will surely use her status
with the US against Pakistan, the country's traditional rival.
The equanimity with which the US has accepted the new ballistic missile firing by India
is an example of this. This new nexus will, at some point compel Pakistan, for the sake
of her survival and the need to counter India, into seeking options that the US has not
anticipated.
For America then, it could turn into a self-defeating exercise leading to a trap of
America's own making .
In such a dangerous game , the double standards being indulged in by the US are being
well read all over.
"India missile test has few critics, unlike North Korea,'' read the headline of a widely-
distributed AP story, which said the test caused barely a ripple -- even in China -- just
days after North Korea was globally vilified for its failed rocket launch.
The United States of America is a weakened nation today. After its long drawn-out war
in Afghanistan and with nothing to show for the effort (unless you count destruction of
that country and killing of countless civilians, and the urinating on dead bodies by
American troops as a pathetic assertion of victory), and the equally long and unsuccessful war on Iraq, America needs strategic partners to help her. This is particularly the case as the country, struggling with a weak economy, tries to maintain hegemony over China, the rising regional challenger to America's status in Asia and the Pacific region.
This challenge will likely lead to US efforts to form new alliances at the expense of old
ones, leaving Pakistan, the favorite whipping boy, tossed aside like used tissue, to fend
for herself.
Pakistan needs to recognize this reality, and should look for options as her standing and
security in the region is at stake!
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