US Agrees to Boost Subcontinent Defense
Saturday, March 26, 2005
(SNN) India and the United States have announced plans to boost defense relations by offering to increase missile defense and other security high-tech initiatives. This announcement comes just a few days after the U.S. announced that it would be selling an undetermined amount of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
The U.S. announced that it would be selling an undetermined amount of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
U.S. officials dismissed India’s objection that the F-16 sale would have an impact on the balance to military power on the Subcontinent. "We don't see any impact of this sale on relevant military balances,” said one U.S. official. He went on to point out the technical difficulty in weighing the military hardware of two countries against on another. “I mean, the scales are very large,” he said. While selling U.S. aircraft to Pakistan is probably not the best plan of action, it may be necessary to bolster the weakened dollar.
The U.S. has offered to help India with nuclear energy and safety initiatives.
The U.S. offer was not limited to F-16s."That's not just F-16s. It could be F-18s. But beyond that, the U.S. is ready to discuss even more fundamental issues of defense transformation with India, including transformative systems in areas such as command and control, early warning and missile defense." In addition, a statement from New Delhi says that the U.S. has offered to help India with nuclear energy and safety initiatives.
The politics behind this maneuver are complex. The U.S. has to reward Pakistan for being a passive aggressive ally in the war on terror. Meanwhile they must respect India both as an emergent world economic power and a nuclear and military power. In the end, the Bush Administration came to the most logical course of action, escalating an arms race between two groups of people who possess atomic weapons and have been kicking the shit out of each other since the fall of Rome.
