AJMAL KHAN YOUSAFZAI
United States has been vigorous in the pursuit to make influential position in South Asia, as on Monday the US President Donald Trump disembarked on a two day visit to India. He is the fourth consecutive US President to visit India, all together seven Presidents have been on Presidential visits to India. This shows the importance that the Washington adds to the geopolitical position of New Delhi. Also, the US spares no opportunity in pursuing the Indo-Pacific strategy, to further influence the region from Pacific to Indian Ocean.
It should be alarming for the two major States i.e. China and Pakistan. China is already having issues with the US in South China Sea. Generally, Both the US and China face each other over the disputed claims in Pacific and now, the US is on sail to established influence in the Indian Ocean. Moreover, US is already sitting in Afghanistan, with the excuse of so called ‘War on Terror’, and now want to use India, buttering the Indians to the extent that Modi has opened all doors to US schema, thus further putting pressure on China.
Similarly, Pakistan is facing the same threat as China. The US is shaking hands with India, which leaves Pakistan in confusion, thinking hard to find explanation to the current romance between US and India. Though, it is no hard to understand US, Indian partnership but China and Pakistan seem to be in ignorance to see the fact that this partnership could be a disaster for them. India think of itself as the ‘Asian Tigers’, and the Hindutva extremists in power are the opportunist, they want to get more out of this partnership. Also, India is fully cooperating with the US in Afghanistan, using it as proxy land to hurt Pakistan.
India has also opposed the China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and US could be behind them to sabotage the larger development program of China, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). India has also tried to influence Iran by offering them, to help develop and operationalize Chabahar Port. India hasn’t stopped at just planning for the Chabahar Port but convincing the Eurasian States to join hands for Chabahar Port, to damage the value and importance of Gawadar Port.
The combination of US and India is such that US labels China is a rival power, and India always terms Pakistan an enemy number one. This partnership can be no good for China and Pakistan. Both the States must keenly scrutinize the sudden closeness between the US and India. As, the US and Indian perception towards China and Pakistan is never stopping or altering. In recent years many moves have been taken to put pressure on China and Pakistan.
For example, the US has been using the Xinjiang card to exhibit bad image of China. On the other hand, India is using the terror card to showcase Pakistan, as a villain. But, the reality is that US and allies, themselves have a very negative opinion of Muslims and treat them harshly, one just needs to look around the world. And, they will see the involvement of US and West in all war throne regions of the world, particularly in the Muslim world. Similarly, the Indian claims that Pakistan is using proxies, is shameful as they themselves use Afghanistan and have been found behind the militants conducting insurgency in Pakistan. Also, the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agents have been captured in Pakistan. KulbhushanYadav is a good example, who was caught from Baluchistan, an on duty officer, and according to his confession, with a mission to sabotage CPEC. Another crucial angle to look into is the defense cooperation between the US and India. The past decade has noted drastic increase in the defense agreements. According to a BBC report, the defense deals between US and India were nearly Zero in 2008 and now reaching to more than 15 billion dollars.
It is expected to further balloon with the current visit of Donald Trump. This surge in the weapons deals should be worrisome for both China and Pakistan. As, China seeks a peaceful coexistence to continue on the development path that they have initiated with the project of BRI, and Pakistan wishes the same, as Pakistan has paid the price of ‘war on terror’ in the shape of more than 70 thousand citizens dead, trillions lost to economy and on top of it, a huge burden of hosting Afghan refugees. –The author is a staff member of The Daily Mail
