Hi frankw1900; Here's a history of US conflicts since WW2 and India's and Pakistan's contributions:
Cold War
Pakistan: Member of CENTO (along with Turkey, Iraq, Iran and (later) Britain). Leased bases to the US for intelligence gathering.
India: Aligned with Soviet Union.
Vietnam
Pakistan: Founding member of SEATO, but more or less neutral (similar to France).
India: Supported enemy:
The close relations between India and Vietnam have their historical roots in the common struggle for liberation from foreign rule and the national struggle for independence.
meadev.nic.in
India is a great support of Vietnam during the war. Everybody was celebrating when Vietnam won the war. Nehru and Ho Chi Minh were very close friends.
vov.org.vn
Also see:
Congress Nationalism & the Decline of U.S.-India Relations
foreignpolicy-infocus.org
Which is part of the fascinating document:
foreignpolicy-infocus.org
South Africa
Pakistan: Neutral, as far as I know.
India: Supported ANC against US.
sacp.org.za
Gulf war
Pakistan: supplied 5000 soldiers (on our side):
au.af.mil
India: No show.
Somalia
Pakistan: Troops fought side by side with the United States. It was Aidid's attack against Pakistani soldiers that brought the US Rangers and Delta force into the conflict, and it was Pakistani (and Malaysian) soldiers who helped US soldiers extract the survivors of "Blackhawk Down".
India: No Show.
Nuclear Nonproliferation
Pakistan: Reacted to Indian explosion with their own.
India: Introduced nuclear weapons to south asia despite being much larger and more powerful than Pakistan.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: Troops are fighting now, side by side with the United States. Government
India: No real assistance in Afghanistan, but raising temperatures with Pakistan at this time is inconvenient, to say the least, for the US. Here's what the US military says about their respective contributions, as of May 22, 2002, judge for yourself:
India
* Provided frigate for escorting coalition shipping through the Straits of Malacca.
* Made shipyards available for coalition ship repairs.
* Opened ports for naval port calls.
...
Pakistan
* Pakistan has provided basing and overflight permission for all U.S. and coalition forces.
* Pakistan has deployed a large number of troops along the Afghanistan border in support of OEF.
Scheduled to deploy an ambulance with medics as part of a Czech Republic contingent.
* Pakistan has spent a large portion of its logistical reserves to support the coalition, a very
significant contribution in light of Pakistan’s economic difficulties and self-defense support
requirements.
* Country representatives arrived at CENTCOM on March 14, 2002. There are five at CENTCOM.
* The Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) has helped in various phases of operations.
defenselink.mil
How dangerous are the straights of Malacca? Why would the US need to repair ships in India when Afghanistan is hundreds of miles from the ocean? And what's this about naval port calls? India has done us zero favors. Again, this is a case of Pakistan's interests completely aligned with the US, while India only uses the situation for the benefit of India.
In contrast with Pakistan's long history as an important US regional ally, India has never fought side by side with the US, and has repeatedly given aid and comfort to our enemies. They have a 50 year history of trying to screw us up. A lot of this is probably due to their dislike for the British, but I don't see them jumping all over themselves trying to apologize for anything, and the fact is that even now they're just taking care of business the same old way they always have. Their taking of J&K was a mistake that they will eventually undo. These are simple facts of demographics. Eventually (5 to 30 years) they're going to give up on J&K and follow what the UN has been consistently saying for 50 years. Our giving them support in their attempt to hold on (where they have zero support among the population) is simply going to delay the inevitable, and likely increase the total amount of blood that gets spilt.
In the final analysis, India is stuck with Russia as a strategic partner and Pakistan is stuck with the US. This has been the pattern through many changes of the forms of the various governments.
I hope this has made it clear why it is that no matter how much individual US citizens (such as yourself) hate Pakistan and love India, the US is not going to abandon Pakistan.
Nor is it realistic for anyone to expect the Pakistani government to instantly stop assistance to guerillas in Kashmir. Those guerillas are undoubtedly loved by the Moslem majority who live in Kashmir, and since Pakistan must have one of the highest rates of individual ownership of high power weaponry in the world, it is entirely impossible for the Pakistani government to prevent the infiltration. If the smuggling and infiltration were so damn easy to control, why doesn't India control it on their side? The answer is simple. It's impossible to control. Just answer that one f'ing question. If the smuggling and infiltration were so damn easy to control, why doesn't India control it on their side?
What's going on is that India is trying to make progress in their conflict with Pakistan by using Bush's War on Terror as a tool. They're not going to succeed.
-- Carl
P.S. Good military link for Turkish / Israeli relations, illustrating the fragility of same:
au.af.mil |
