US-Pak Redux will surely affect QUAD
USA thinks that it is acting smart. The Biden administration first made a stupid move by announcing the F-16 package to “ threaten “ India and then a more foolish political move with its Pak ambassador calling what is an occupied territory as a so-called liberated or “Azad” area.
F 16 the obsolete fighters can be easily taken on by IAF ‘s Bisons and no amount of USA help can get Kashmir for Pakis, instead they are likely to me made to vacate Pak Occupied Kashmir in the foreseeable future .
India has conveyed its serious concern to the US State Department on Donald Blome’s recent blunder the visit to POK and his comments on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, at the highest bureaucratic level. The Modi government has also objected to the USD 450 million upgrade package for Pakistani F-16 fighters, announced by the Pentagon last month, at the top political level.
To complicate bilateral matters further, US issued a travel advisory on Friday for its citizen travelling to India on count of crime and terrorism. The advisory specifically advised its nationals not to travel to Jammu and Kashmir due to “civil unrest and terrorism” and within “10 km of the India-Pak border due to the potential for armed conflicts.”
Imagine a country like USA where there are daily random Shootings, killings and kidnappings in nearly all States issuing such advisory to its citizens . Instead it should be advising its citizens, not to step out of their homes unless totally essential !!
Clearly, in all this the US, egged on by Pakistan and that not so united UK behind the scenes, is revisiting its Kashmir flash-point theory and next will advocate a dialogue between India and Pakistan. We’ll for this to take place first USA will have to hold dialogue with North Korea, Iran and Taliban in New Delhi .!!!
With Ambassador Blome having earlier served as political counsellor in Afghanistan, his undiplomatic statement cannot be dismissed as an inadvertent mistake. He clearly knew exactly what he was doing and what it would do to India-US ties.
While it is understandable that the US is rewarding Pakistan for sending weapon and ammunition supplies to Ukraine via British C-130J transport aircraft and the Romania route, Washington’s disregard for the impact of the two triggers on Indo-US ties is quite inexplicable and may have long term undesired consequences.
Fact is that F-16 is not merely a single-engine fourth generation fighter aircraft that the US has sold to Pakistan since the early 1980s, it is also the barometer of US-Pakistan relationship. The sinusoidal graph of US-Pakistan bilateral relations can be clearly understood using F-16 fighter sales as a reference point.
Though for India, the fighter now poses not much of a problem on the western front. However only a moron will believe that Rawalpindi will use the 75-odd F-16 fighters for counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan. These fighters will be used by Pakistan against India for air attack, using the F-16 fighters and long-range air to air missiles, on India . This will happen even when all of them getting shot down has been assured by the IAF .
Knowing fully well the impact of F-16 supplies to Pakistan, the visit of Ambassador Blome to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and now travel advisory will affect India-US ties, the Biden administration must have thought through the pros and cons before taking these decisions.
Just like the US never informed India in March 2004 when it designated Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally, it did not inform the Indian government before announcing the F-16 package. The F-16 issue will become much more serious if the package includes supply of 120 km range air to air missile and air to ground precision guided ammunition for the Chinese fighter-dominated Pakistani Air Force.
While India has conveyed its displeasure at these developments, Islamabad continues to play Washington against Beijing for its own short-term benefits with the former hoping to wean away Pakistan from its all-weather friend and the latter using Rawalpindi to destabilize India.
Pakistan also every now and then adds a sweetener to its ties with America by exposing a global jihadist to the Hell-Fire missiles fired from US Predator drone in the name of counter-terror cooperation. Even the Pakistan support to US against Tehran in future cannot be ruled out given the current context of Russia using Iranian armed drones to strike deep into Ukraine.
Even though the US is fully entitled to forge deep ties with Pakistan, it will surely be the cost of souring its ties with a QUAD partner and a natural ally India. The ball is now in the US court to clear differences with India.
