Indo-US Military Alliance: Our Independence Could be Bartered Away

10 Dec, 2001    ·   658

Sreeram Sundar Chaulia argues against a Indo-US military alliance


Jawaharlal Nehru kept India out of military alliances with his sagacious and principled foreign policy. That mantra still holds good. Many Cold War allies of the United States Egypt , Indonesia , Saudi Arabia , Pakistan and Zaire – are today unable to define their place in the world or maintain their national sovereignty. This is because the US has a track record of reducing its allies into puppets and then discarding them. American alliances come with expiry dates and the prospect of withdrawal symptoms.  The proposition made to India for a “major military alliance” must be viewed against this hindsight. 

 

 

Hints conveyed by the Defence Minister reveal that there was correspondence between Washington and New Delhi throughout September and October [2001] over the modalities of this alliance, although the Prime Minister denied its existence. Has the Cabinet Committee for Security firmly rejected this idea? Has our decrepit National Security Council vetted the US proposal? India ’s independence and stature in the world require that this alliance be rejected without equivocation. 

 

 

Admittedly, the main obstacle to Indo-US bilateral relations during the Cold War was divergence on national security issues, but there has been increasing convergence on these issues since the end of the Cold War. Military-to-military cooperation began from the 1991 ‘Kicklighter Initiative’. During Clinton ’s second term joint military exercises were planned before Pokhran intervened. Following India ’s endorsement of the NMD, the suspension of military contacts since 1998 was done away with. General Henry Shelton visited India in July 2001 and the Defense Policy Group underwent a revival. The two sides are enhancing navy-to-navy cooperation to ensure free navigation through the Indian Ocean

 

 

Why was it necessary for America to propose a treaty-bound alliance? The answer lies in its desperate search for allies after September 11. The US has become wary of its current allies during its war against terrorism. US policymakers are mulling over the lukewarm support of the Arab world against Islamic jihad. Revelations of the close ties between Osama bin Laden and members of the Saudi oligarchy and the symbiotic relationship  between Pakistan ’s Intelligence and the Taliban have dented Washington ’s confidence in existing relationships and set the tone for wooing India

 

 

What will India get from this entangling alliance? American bases, training facilities and an intelligence establishment could convert us into a semi-colony lacking voice and dignity on the world stage. Increased American infiltration of India will mean:

 

 

 

 

·                     meddling in Kashmir (the old US preference for Kashmiri “self-determination”).

 

                   

 

·                     usage of India to settle American scores in the region on the logic that “my ally’s enemy is my enemy”.

 

                   

 

·                     definite setback to Sino-Indian ties when both countries have common interests in the WTO.

 

                 

 

·                     doubts in the minds of our friends in Moscow , who fear America ’s expansion into Eurasia .

 

                 

 

·                     dependency of the Indian defence structure on the commercial adjuncts of the Pentagon, like Lockheed Martin & Co.

 

                   

 

India ’s dignity and leadership in the third world and the developing South will also take a severe beating if it starts being identified as a camp-follower. The slippery slope will apotheosize when the US , a la Japan and South Korea , becomes the guarantor of Indian security and an overseer of India ’s fate in the comity of nations.  Hopefully, the BJP-led government would pay heed to these clear pitfalls. 

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