How many of you have grown up in an Indian household? I speak from experience. There is always a big brother who kind of commands all the siblings. You keep the big brother happy, and you are the best person that the planet has ever had; but when, mistakenly, you piss off the elder one, you suddenly land in hell. Before you slip into your childhood memories, let me bring you back and tell you I am talking about the United States of America.
Yes, after the British lost their control over colonies, the world was slowly becoming a hub of free nations like never before. And then began the Cold War. The two superpowers started playing around with the narrative, depending on whether you were on the American side or the Soviet bloc. At that point in time, the countries that had recently gained independence wanted to focus on their own development rather than fighting a war that was not their own. The case with India was no different.
But was Indian leadership successful in its non-alignment?
How were the relations between India and the US after the Cold War?
Where do we stand today, with the Biden government aiding the Pakistani F-16 fleet? And what does the future hold? The major question is how the person sitting at the White House would influence bilateral ties. Let’s find answers to all of these.
Also read: Oh! You want to migrate to the USA because caste rivalry doesn’t exist there? HAHAHA…
A look back at India-US relations
It was in 1947 that Britain declared the end of colonial rule in India. India formally proclaimed that it would not favour any of the blocs and would be neutral. India was ambitious to be the leader of the countries pushing for non-alignment movements. Then, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru meets with US President Harry S. Truman during his multi-week tour of the United States.
In 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower became the first serving US president to visit India. He met with the Prime Minister and President Rajendra Prasad, as well as addressed the Indian Parliament. US universities helped India establish its first IIT. American faculty members developed academic programmes and research laboratories. We will discuss some other day whether it was a collaboration or a superpower helping a poor nation, as they called it.
Fast forward to 1962, when war broke out between China and India. Nehru wrote to Kennedy requesting help. What happens next? Washington supports India in the conflict, recognising the McMahon Line as the border. It also provides air assistance and arms. Until the 1965 India-Pakistan War, strategic and military ties between Washington and Delhi remained close.
Also read: Bipartisan resolution: Thank You USA, it will help us, but we didn’t need it
The twist…
And the 1971 war began exposing the real face of America. Pakistan descends into a civil war-like situation, and India intervenes to control the humanitarian crisis growing in its neighbourhood and save itself from a refugee burden. Despite evidence of the Pakistan Army’s violence against its own citizens in East Pakistan, the United States sided with Islamabad, given its mediating role in Nixon’s rapprochement with China.
Here, a crisis arrives. How does India secure its interest? India signed a twenty-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in August, a peace and friendship treaty. Then, the Soviet Union saved India and forced Task Force 74 to trace its roots back to the US.
Situations became more tense when India became the first nation outside the five permanent members of the UNSC to declare nuclear capabilities. What followed were heavy sanctions, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and inspections of nuclear facilities by Americans. Be it Bush, Clinton, or Obama. Sanctions and American Presidents, both of whom happened to be on visits to India.
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How India-US relations flourished under Trump
The Cold War era was tough for India, and India-US ties could never flourish as they did in the last ten years. The best era being the era of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Donald Trump as his counterpart.
Confused? Wait! Bush’s visit to India did act as an icebreaker. Then Indians got mesmerised by the social media optics of Barack Hussein Obama. Obama came across as an excellent human with empathy for a relatively weaker part of the world. Because Indians during the UPA era had an inferiority complex, they expected the Democratic leader to be kinder to us. Then came Trump, and Indians developed a penchant for friendship between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump.
Trump was elected to the White House in 2016, and there was a shift in the political landscape in the US. The Indian government moved quickly, and PM Modi met Trump in 2017. Trump visited India just before the elections.
With the election of President Trump, India-US ties were elevated to the point that the two nations considered themselves to be in a comprehensive global strategic partnership. The US became the biggest arms exporter to India. The countries signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Cooperation (BECA), laying the foundation to bolster defence ties.
India has procured over $18 billion’s worth of defence items from the US, almost half of this in the last five years. India conducts more bilateral exercises with the US than with any other country. And, under Trump, the announcement of India’s elevation to Tier I of the Strategic Trade Authorization licence exception has opened up US defence technologies from the time when India faced a technology-denial regime.
There was a shared concern about China’s aggression. The concern over China and a strong rapport between Trump and PM Modi insulated and strengthened the relationship between the two nations.
The two nations increased their cooperation on several issues, one of which was terrorism. Trump was overtly against the rogue nation’s policy of state-sponsored terrorism. It was under Trump’s rule that not only Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was designated as a global terrorist post-Pulwama attack, but Pakistan was also placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
India not only enhanced its ties with America in the fields of security and trade but also maintained good geopolitical relations with its friends around the world. The nation maintained its position, be it in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, or Iran. The cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region increased, and India had begun asserting itself on the global stage, be it by speaking on Kashmir as an internal matter or the revival of QUAD.
The cooperation was witnessed in the times of the COVID pandemic as well, when pharmaceutical companies from both countries collaborated to expand global supplies of critical medicines and on the progress of vaccine development. Viewed through the geopolitical lens, America needs India to counterbalance China in Asia.
Also read: India has already replaced USA in Afghanistan, courtesy Modiplomacy
Biden comes back and pushes for pro-Pakistan
When Joe Biden was elected to the office, India thought of taking the bond that had developed in the last four years forward. However, Biden was quick to trace back. The Biden administration happened to be a strong supporter of Pakistan. Under him, the United States once surpassed China as the leading source of FDI in Pakistan. Despite rising inflation, fuel shortages, and crumbling infrastructure, Biden has urged US companies to invest in Pakistan. Not only that, but the US is facilitating the return of IMF funds to Pakistan.
Not only this, the Biden administration also removed the funds’ drought that Pakistan was going through by allocating around $450 million in the name of a fleet sustainment programme for F-16 fighter jets. This was the first fund allocation to Pakistan after it was halted by his predecessor in 2018.
The infamous Muslim-Human Rights Card reaped no benefits
There is no denying the fact that Islamists are a major voter base of the Democratic Party back in America; this can be a viable reason behind America’s blind support for Pakistan and Palestine instead of India and Israel. This is also the reason why the Biden administration pulls out the human rights card against India every time elections are around the corner.
Through reports like that of USCIRF, America has always tried to keep the Indian establishment in check, alleging through the reports that human rights are endangered in the Indian subcontinent or putting out vague claims like minorities are safe in India. Although upholding democratic values and protecting human rights have been the two flags that the US has never dropped,
It was during the 2+2 dialogue last year that the US raised the issue of India’s human rights record in a public forum. If you remember, then-Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Jaishankar said that if you have human rights concerns about India, we too have concerns over human rights issues in America. This was a message that America needs to keep an arm’s length from India’s internal affairs.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken probably raised the issue with the progressive democratic base in mind. The issue was raised by Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from the progressive wing of the party. She had brought up the issue of India’s human rights records. If you remember, it was the same Ilhan Omar who visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) during her visit to Pakistan. Upon strong condemnation by India, the American establishment distanced itself from the visit.
America goes into damage control mode
We have all witnessed how America under Biden has been juggling between India and Pakistan. Upon its failed attempts to woo India and take its side against Russia, the Biden administration was much furious. America tried multiple times, first through cajoling and then by arm-twisting, to bring India on its side; however, India kept asserting its national requirements, and we purchased huge amounts of discounted oil from Russia in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. This may be a probable reason why America is going back to Pakistan. And what happens just after that? India signs the biggest trade deal in history with the United States.
What did America say? It said it is worried about Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons. Biden referred to Pakistan as one of the “most dangerous nations in the world” possessing “nukes without any cohesion”. The Biden administration is worried that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists or jihadi elements.
To cajole India, Biden, who was never looked at as a Chinahawk, has gone all guns blazing at the dragon. The US Senate recently passed a resolution that recognises Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India. The bill condemned China’s unilateral aggression on the LAC. However, the ones who could smell the geopolitical coffee knew that the step was not to mend ties with India, but that resolution was brought in to cater to anti-China sentiments. To check China’s dictatorial rise, the US needs to team up with other countries hurt by China’s actions.
However, America must understand that although India is surrounded by hostile neighbours, being the enemy of the enemy doesn’t make you India’s ultimate friend, for which you will have to think in terms of India’s benefits and favour.
Also read: From ‘Love letter to Pakistan’ to a harsh call to the USA, India has come a long way
The troubled legacy for the upcoming president
Under Joe Biden, the US has been trying to make India believe that it is the best friend India needs and that the countries have strong bilateral relations. However, Democrats have been the most confusing regarding their India policy. They just don’t know whether to cajole India or take on its rising power. Be it a CAATSA waiver to India or participating in India’s Atmanirbhar campaign by assisting in the development of jet engine technology, the balancing act can’t do away with the fact that Biden first tried to use Pakistan against India. The one taking the legacy forward in the White House would have great worries about how to manage the relationship at a time when India has just refused to submit and, in the opposite direction, is asserting itself over alleged superpowers.
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