LONDON: Despite improvement in Indo relations U.S. Washington may revert to Pakistan which could prove more useful in their efforts to redefine regional priorities in the post cold war environment, western analysts here say.

The ending of bipolarity has not yet resulted in Indo US rapprochement, notwithstanding the “nuclear problem.” Twenty-five years of involvement between the US and Pakistan must and clearly does, remain important.

Although a democratic presidency could reinforce the pro Indian lobby, Indian attitudes towards Washington may well prove decisive, says the strategic survey 199293 published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (11S).

In March, India resumed high-level talk, in Washington over the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which aims to limit the export of ballistic knowhow.

In April, their defence minister Sharad Pawar visited Washington and agreed with his American counterpart, Dick Cheney, on the importance of improving Indo US. relations.

According to the survey, the US was consequently wrong-footed over the Indo Russian agreement for setting up a five-year collaborative project in which Russia would assist India in developing its ballistic and rocket technologies.

The survey says the US responded by threatening to suspend both Russian and Indian aid programs totally and in the interim imposed two-year ban “sensitive” US exports to both countries.

Throughout 1992, Islamabad tried hard to work itself back into the American embrace, the 11SS says.

Since 1990, Pakistan has faced the same problem. Just as collapse of Soviet military and. economic aid caused problems for India’s military, suspension of US aid threatens a spare parts scarcity in the Pak military.

On an official visit to Islamabad in January 1992, US naval chief Admiral Frank Kelso expressed the need for the two countries to come to some “objective understanding” over the problem posed by the NPT and the pressler amendment.

That such problems exist were underscored by Senator Larry Pressler’s visit to India and Pakistan between January 1215, in which he said Pakistan could build one or two missile devices when it felt like, the IISS says.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 28, 1993