ID :
59143
Wed, 05/06/2009 - 11:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/59143
The shortlink copeid
US focus on Pak may lead to pressure on India over Kashmir
New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) Former US Ambassador to India
Robert Blackwill Tuesday cautioned that India may encounter
eventual US pressure on Kashmir issue because of Obama
Administration's focus on Pakistan.
Dubbing Pakistan as the "most dangerous foreign policy
problem" that Washington is facing, Blackwill said for every
good reason the Obama administration is devoting enormous
thought to that country.
"The possible effect of such an enveloping US
preoccupation with Pakistan seems on its way in practical
terms to re-hyphenating the US-India relationship, leading the
administration to see India largely through the lens of deeply
disturbing developments in Pakistan," Blackwill, who was the
US ambassador here from 2001-2003, said at a CII gathering.
"This will produce an understandable and growing US
interest in trying to reduce tensions in India-Pakistan
relationship, not least because Pakistan will argue that
tensions with India and the Kashmir dispute are preventing it
from moving robustly against the Islamic terrorists," he said,
adding India may encounter eventual US pressure on the Kashmir
issue.
He also said that Obama administration appeared to
have downgraded India in the US' strategic calculations and
put China on a higher plane.
Though it wants genuinely good relations with New
Delhi but there can be a substantial change viz a viz the
policies of the Bush administration and it would take "very
hard work and skillful diplomacy" from both the governments to
keep the US-India relationship on its current level, he said.
While former US President George W Bush looked at
India as an emerging democratic power and a key factor in
balancing the rise of Chinese power, Blackwill said, "there
are preliminary indications that the Obama administration has
a different policy orientation towards India.
"First it is not clear that the Obama administration
has the same preoccupation with the rise of Chinese power and
India's balancing role in it.
"Rather, Washington is now naturally focused on
US-China economic relations... so China today appears to me to
be on a substantially higher plane in US diplomacy than India
which seems to have been downgraded in the administration's
strategic calculations," Blackwill said
It will take very hard work and skillful diplomacy
from both the governments to keep the US-India relationship on
its current plateau and avoid a steady decline in out
bilateral ties, Blackwill said
The former ambassador said Afghanistan presents
another set of potential differences between India and
Pakistan.
"For Washington to believe that India will not be a
major player in the long-term future of Afghanistan is to
ignore centuries of history, culture and mutual interaction
between the two," he said.
He listed Iran as also another "knotty" issue in
US-India relations and a potential source of considerable
bilateral tension. PTI
Robert Blackwill Tuesday cautioned that India may encounter
eventual US pressure on Kashmir issue because of Obama
Administration's focus on Pakistan.
Dubbing Pakistan as the "most dangerous foreign policy
problem" that Washington is facing, Blackwill said for every
good reason the Obama administration is devoting enormous
thought to that country.
"The possible effect of such an enveloping US
preoccupation with Pakistan seems on its way in practical
terms to re-hyphenating the US-India relationship, leading the
administration to see India largely through the lens of deeply
disturbing developments in Pakistan," Blackwill, who was the
US ambassador here from 2001-2003, said at a CII gathering.
"This will produce an understandable and growing US
interest in trying to reduce tensions in India-Pakistan
relationship, not least because Pakistan will argue that
tensions with India and the Kashmir dispute are preventing it
from moving robustly against the Islamic terrorists," he said,
adding India may encounter eventual US pressure on the Kashmir
issue.
He also said that Obama administration appeared to
have downgraded India in the US' strategic calculations and
put China on a higher plane.
Though it wants genuinely good relations with New
Delhi but there can be a substantial change viz a viz the
policies of the Bush administration and it would take "very
hard work and skillful diplomacy" from both the governments to
keep the US-India relationship on its current level, he said.
While former US President George W Bush looked at
India as an emerging democratic power and a key factor in
balancing the rise of Chinese power, Blackwill said, "there
are preliminary indications that the Obama administration has
a different policy orientation towards India.
"First it is not clear that the Obama administration
has the same preoccupation with the rise of Chinese power and
India's balancing role in it.
"Rather, Washington is now naturally focused on
US-China economic relations... so China today appears to me to
be on a substantially higher plane in US diplomacy than India
which seems to have been downgraded in the administration's
strategic calculations," Blackwill said
It will take very hard work and skillful diplomacy
from both the governments to keep the US-India relationship on
its current plateau and avoid a steady decline in out
bilateral ties, Blackwill said
The former ambassador said Afghanistan presents
another set of potential differences between India and
Pakistan.
"For Washington to believe that India will not be a
major player in the long-term future of Afghanistan is to
ignore centuries of history, culture and mutual interaction
between the two," he said.
He listed Iran as also another "knotty" issue in
US-India relations and a potential source of considerable
bilateral tension. PTI