Paper
An exploration into how India and Pakistan have perceived each other’s manipulations, or lack thereof, of their nuclear arsenals.
Rakesh Sood
{
"authors": [],
"type": "pressRelease",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "SAP",
"programs": [
"South Asia"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [],
"topics": []
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
Press Release
Press Release: Empowering the Subcontinent: The U.S. Strategic Remaking of South Asia
Published on May 12, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2005
CONTACT: Jennifer Linker, 202/939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
The U.S. decision to sell F-16s to Pakistan met with a strikingly muted response from New Delhi. According to Ashley J. Tellis, Carnegie senior associate and former National Security Council staffer, the lack of outcry is the result of a new and largely unreported U.S. strategy for remaking the region: to advance India as a global power, while assisting Pakistan in becoming a successful state. Tellis outlines the new strategy—which he welcomes—but analyzes its risks in a new policy brief, South Asian Seesaw: A New US Policy on the Subcontinent available here. Carnegie next month will release Tellis’ detailed recommendations for implementing the controversial strategy, in anticipation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington in July.
Tellis argues that in order to accelerate India’s ascension to great-power status, the United States should utilize the three strategic dialogues on energy, security, and economics to initiate policy shifts that will have the effect of accelerating Indian economic growth, integrating India into the global nuclear regime, and promoting rapid technological change in India. Concurrently, the U.S. commitment of economic and military aid to Pakistan ought to be oriented towards strengthening Pakistan and promoting regional stability.
India and Pakistan are both strategic opportunities for the United States, and Tellis argues that the administration’s new policy towards the subcontinent effectively gives notice that the United States will be “guided by the intrinsic importance of India and Pakistan to U.S. interests and not by fears that support for one would upset the other.” He attributes this vision to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, and Counselor Philip Zelikow, who see a transformed relationship with India as vital to the fight against terrorism and proliferation, and the preservation of a stable balance of power in Asia over the long term.
Tellis highlights the risks in reconstructing U.S. relations with South Asia, including the challenge of providing military assistance to Pakistan without evoking the ire of India, and accommodating India within the global nuclear order without destroying it.
Ashley J. Tellis is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment and former senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador in India. He also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning and Southwest Asia. He is co-editor of Strategic Asia 2004–05: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power (The National Bureau of Asian Research, 2004).
###
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Escalation Dynamics Under the Nuclear Shadow—India’s Approach
- U.S. Peace Mediation in the Middle East: Lessons for the Gaza Peace PlanPaper
As Gaza peace negotiations take center stage, Washington should use the tools that have proven the most effective over the past decades of Middle East mediation.
Amr Hamzawy, Sarah Yerkes, Kathryn Selfe
- Russia’s Unspoken Condition for Ending the War Is Zelensky’s ResignationCommentary
Insisting on Zelensky’s resignation is not just a personal vendetta, but a clear signal that the Kremlin would like to send to all its neighbors: even if you manage to put up some resistance, you will ultimately pay the price—including on a personal level.
Vladislav Gorin
- For Putin, Increasing Russia’s Nuclear Threat Matters More Than the Triad’s ModernizationCommentary
For Putin, upgrading Russia’s nuclear forces was a secondary goal. The main aim was to gain an advantage over the West, including by strengthening the nuclear threat on all fronts. That made growth in missile arsenals and a new arms race inevitable.
Maxim Starchak
- With the RAISE Act, New York Aligns With California on Frontier AI LawsCommentary
The bills differ in minor but meaningful ways, but their overwhelming convergence is key.
Alasdair Phillips-Robins, Scott Singer
