America’s De-Hyphenating India-Pakistan Approach

Stanley A. Weiss (WORLD VIEW)

Leaders here can't get enough of the American president. He's "the best president vis-à-vis India in the past 50 years," said a former diplomat.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told him, "the people of India deeply love you." One official proposed awarding him the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India), the country's highest civilian honour. Another nation in the throes of Obamania? In fact, the president beloved by the Indian elite is George W. Bush, credited with "de-hyphenating" Washington's longtime "India-Pakistan" policy and championing last year's landmark US-India civilian nuclear deal. Indeed, this may be one capital where Barack Obama finds George Bush a hard act to follow.

Obama has pledged that deepening ties with India are a "first-order priority for me," and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said he was confident "that we'll take this relationship forward rapidly."

But behind the platitudes, New Delhi is nervous. Discussions with political, security and business leaders confirmed widespread worries that, in the words of Saurabh Shukla, senior diplomatic editor of India Today, that "while it is unlikely that Obama administration will consciously reverse the policy of greater engagement with India, it has certainly raised doubts about the US as a dependable strategic ally."

Though welcoming Obama's regional approach to Afghanistan, many worry that the administration is going too far by including disputed Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan. Indians recall Obama's campaign comments that Pakistan would be "less likely" to cooperate with terrorists if it could look east "with confidence" toward India. And though his portfolio no longer includes India, Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special representative for the region, has spent two visits trying to reassure officials that Washington won't pressure India on Kashmir. Still, "India sees a re-hyphenation of US policy towards India and Pakistan," Patwant Singh, a prominent historian, told me. "New Delhi is very concerned by the administration bringing up Kashmir, which has little to do with Afghanistan."

Finally, Indian officials wonder if its nuclear deal with the United States will be fully implemented under Obama's top arms control official, former congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, one of the agreement's staunchest critics. Moreover, the president's nonproliferation agenda - ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, achieving a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty and obtaining Indian agreement to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - is likely to put new pressure on India to curtail its nuclear ambitions.The bottomline? Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envoy, recently declared that US goals in the region are a "possible threat to India's interests" and, given America's "diminished predominance" in the world, New Delhi should pursue "hedging strategies," including partnerships with multiple countries.

In diplomatic speak, that's a warning shot. Obama should move quickly to shore up a relationship that is vital to so many US goals. As soon as possible, he should name a new US ambassador with a proven track record of strengthening US-India ties, and dispatch Secretary Clinton to New Delhi to reaffirm America's strategic partnership with India, separate from Pakistan. Claiming inspiration from Gandhi and embodying the multi-ethnic society that India celebrates, Obama - the first American president to mention "Hindus"in his inaugural address - should receive a hero's welcome among ordinary Indians.

To win over Indian elites, he should embrace India as a natural partner - not a problem - in nuclear energy, nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament, and support India's goal of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Stanley A. Weiss is founding chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan organisation based in Washington

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