In September 2022, the Washington administration declared a support program of F-16 fighter jets to contribute anti-terrorism struggle of Pakistan. India, on the other hand, has criticized this decision by claiming that F-16 jets given to Pakistan would be used against the war itself, not anti-terrorism.[1] On this development, the discussions on the perspective of Pakistan and India has increased. According to international society, the US could decide to enhance the relations with Pakistan, to teach a lesson to India, who rejected to front Moscow after the attacks of Ukraine. Because, for a year, due to the Afghanistan-centered developments, the US relations with Pakistan were estranged from, and that created pro-India conjuncture. However, in the last period, the situations started to change.
From 2018, the US decreased military aid to Pakistan; even though it was not disposed to contribute into India in terms of defence. This situation has started to change after Russian-Ukrainian War. India continued its economic, military and political relations with Russia, despite Ukrainian War. Therefore, Washington has expressed that it could supply aids to New Delhi on defence industry and they demand to replace Moscow. In that sense, Washington has increased its efforts to separate New Delhi from Moscow. On this issue, Spokesperson of the US Secretary of State, Ned Price, said that, “Reorienting a country’s foreign policy or a country’s security establishment or defence procurement practices away from a country like Russia is not something that we can do overnight. We do see this as a long-term challenge.”[2]
India’s main criticism towards the US is that it does not support itself enough in the field of defense and, worse still, it has started to support Pakistan, which it sees as one of its enemies. Another point that India criticizes is the decision to aid Pakistan was taken during the US-India 2+2 meeting in New Delhi. In this process, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu held talks with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi within the framework of 2+2. While India is trying to increase cooperation with the US in the region; the tendency of the Washington administration to improve its relations with Islamabad has increased the distrust in bilateral relations. Shortly after that, the Pentagon announced that they had no problems with India and that they would continue to work together.[3] Which means, the US indicated that they do not have to make a choice between Pakistan and India.
Regardless of the US’s F-16 aid to Pakistan, it is seen that India started to take a stand against Russia in the Ukraine War. In other words, whether the US supports Pakistan or not, it can be said that India has begun to feel uncomfortable with the mobilization decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue this war and Moscow’s threats to use nuclear weapons. That is to say, the determinacy of Putin to continue Ukrainian War, may cause rapprochement of India to the US in the latest period.
At the same time, it can be claimed that New Delhi, seeing that the US is supporting Pakistan, took action to reconcile with Washington. In that context, Minister of Foreign Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has stayed in the US for 11 days, in which he visited for the UN General Assembly, and had met with senior officials. In this visit Jaishankar has expressed that India demands to contribute into regional security more, and in that sense, it is ready to take more responsibilities.[4]
Since Washington, who desires India to contribute into regional security more, and take a stance against Russia and China, did not reached adequate support on this issue, continued to pressure on New Delhi. Therefore, in a short term, it is doubtful that in what degree would India support to the US policy on Indo-Pacific and in what degree is it sincere. Because, if it continues on its current policies, India would not join to the many alliances of the US in the region. However, lasting contacts of Jaishankar in the US may show that India really try to change something in the foreign policy.
As a result, the US expresses that India’s foreign policy in a line, that it desires. What motivated India was that the US took a step towards improving its relations with Pakistan. Washington did not mend the fences with Islamabad yet. However, it pretended as such to scare New Delhi. Therefore, Washington has proven once again that it is quite capable of bringing both countries to the desired line.
[1] “India Registers Strong Protest with US Over Pakistan F-16 Package”, News9live, https://www.news9live.com/india/india-registers-strong-protest-with-us-over-pakistan-f-16-package-195154, (Date of Accession: 07.10.2022).
[2] “India, China to Send Troops to Russia for Military Exercise”, Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/india-china-to-send-troops-to-russia-for-military-exercise/articleshow/93647132.cms?from=mdr, (Date of Accession: 07.10.2022).
[3] “US Has Very Close Partnership, Defence Relationship with India: Pentagon”, Business-Standard, https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/us-has-very-close-partnership-defence-relationship-with-india-pentagon-122091400062_1.html, (Date of Accession: 07.10.2022).
[4] “A ‘Confident’ India Attempts to Strike a Difficult Balance with Both US And China”, SCMP, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3194956/confident-india-attempts-strike-difficult-balance-both-us-and-china, (Date of Accession: 07.10.2022).
