Bush Ratchets up India / Pak Arms Race

NY Times: “Courting a Pair of South Asia Partners,” by Somini Sengupta, March 27, 2005.

This is an interesting, albeit gravely MIS-titled. piece, which SHOULD be called “Courting a Pair of South Asian RIVALS”…

The headlines on Friday were all about the US deciding to sell F-16 figher jets to Pakistan 15 years after it was first announced.

This news analysis on Sunday reveals how – at the same time – the US was ALSO offering to ramp up its on-going military co-operation with India.

Now, as the NY Times points out in its editorial on Tuesday, the BEST thing would be a REDUCTION of overall arms levels in a part of the world that is ALREADY vastly over-militarized ...

But in the absence of THAT – we are, after all, talking about the Bush administration, which, despite its rhetoric of life, is OBSESSED with promoting instruments of DEATH –

this attempt at balance reveals at least some rare sophistication – probably due to the influence of Condi Rice – in Bush policymaking in the Third World, which is otherwise a catalogue of mistake after mistake after mistake …

Here’s the crucial part, which, not unusually, comes at the END of the article (bold emphasis mine):

Washington is clearly banking on the improved relations, and it took pains on Friday to point out that it was not playing favorites. The administration appears not to want to insult either country; it needs Pakistan’s cooperation in fighting terrorism, and it sees long-term gains in a strategic partnership with India. …

Early Saturday morning, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement enumerated the opportunities in Washington’s offer to New Delhi.

For one, the statement pointed out, American defense companies will be allowed to sell India 126 “multirole combat aircraft,” including F-16’s and F-18’s.

India wants to manufacture at least some of those planes, something that the Bush administration has not ruled out.

“Long term, it would mean moving toward manufacturing here,” one American official said Saturday. “We want India to become a serious global power.”

India also pointed out that Washington had said it was willing to share nuclear technology for civilian use. With its vast appetite for energy, India badly wants nuclear reactors to generate power.

Indian-American military cooperation has expanded drastically in recent years. India increasingly buys American weapons, and joint exercises by the two militaries have become commonplace. If New Delhi ultimately takes up the American offer on fighter jets, it will be the first time India buys a major weapons platform from the United States.

C. Raja Mohan, a defense specialist who teaches at Jawaharlal Nehru University here, read Friday’s announcement by Washington as an endorsement of India’s strategic importance, not just vis-à-vis Pakistan but also as a weight to counter China’s growing military might.

“It’s saying we want India to be strong,” he said. “The message to Beijing is quite strong. It’s not just a balance between India and Pakistan.”

The sale of the F-16’s to Pakistan is unlikely to significantly tilt the balance of power in South Asia, some analysts say. It would, however, allow both sides to claim Washington as an ally and to keep the rival in check.

The sale, more than any other military aid to Pakistan, has enormous symbolic significance. The United States agreed to sell F-16’s to Pakistan in the late 1980’s, but reversed its position because of concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear buildup.

Again, it would be better to do something that does NOT fuel the already heated South Asian arms race …

But, in the absence of that, at least they’re making an attempt to have a BALANCED military encounter … which, for the Bush administration, is at least a BIT of a step forward.