home > by publication type > daily analysis > U.S.-India Relations Face Serious Challenges
Email
| Author: |
|---|
Although the India-U.S. nuclear deal has had challenges in the past, the current ones may have a long lasting impact on India-U.S. relations. (AP Images/Gurinder Osan)
The nuclear deal between India and the United States has run into its biggest crisis yet and appears close to collapse (WashPost). It marks a huge loss of credibility (Bloomberg) for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who tried to save face by saying "if it doesn't come through that is not the end of life." But Singh’s inability to push the deal through India’s parliament will be a big disappointment for the Bush administration, too, which has hailed the deal since its July 2005 inception as a historic initiative with long-term implications (NYTimes.com) for U.S. influence in Asia.
The nuclear pact has enjoyed central position in a much broader strategic relationship between India and the United States that includes expanding ties in trade, business, defense, space, energy, environment, democracy and development. U.S. Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns writes in the current issue of Foreign Affairs that the rise of a new U.S.-India strategic relationship is "one of the most significant and positive developments in international politics." The possible demise of the deal, however, raises questions about the viability of a U.S. strategy which seeks to play a so-called India card, as this Policy Review article dubbed it in 2002, to balance China’s rising military power in the region. Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Lisa Curtis says (BBC) the deal’s failure would make "it highly unlikely for any future U.S. administration to contemplate major initiatives with India."
The deal had faced several bumps and roadblocks along the way from diverse quarters. But the left-wing bloc in India’s parliament, comprised primarily of the Communist parties who form part of the ruling coalition, posed the largest hurdle. As this analysis from India’s Inter Press Service notes, the Indian left believes the United States is "a hegemonic, deeply destabilizing power and India cannot become a close ally of Washington without sacrificing or compromising its policy independence and narrowing its room for maneuver in world affairs." India's Communist parties are reluctant to break with their sixty years of ideology and history, says Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Bruce Riedel in an interview with CFR.org's Bernard Gwertzman. He calls the pause in the nuclear agreement "quite a tragedy for India, because almost anyone who's studied this deal believes India got a very, very good deal out of this."
In June 2005, India and the United States agreed on a new framework for their defense relationship, including increases in defense trade, technology transfers, and joint exercises. This opened up opportunities for U.S. arms exporters to vie for some of India’s $30 billion defense-modernization budget. At an Indian air show (Spectrum Online) in February 2007, the U.S. ambassador to India, David Mulford, said "we want to make a breakthrough in defense sales." The left has fought such deals on the grounds they would compromise Indian sovereignty.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.