The Hindu : `Indo-U.S. defence ties here to stay'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 24, 2002

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National

`Indo-U.S. defence ties here to stay'
By K. Ramachandran

Peter R. Lavoy

CHENNAI, FEB. 23. Indo-U.S. defence ties are here to stay in the long term and a change in political leadership may not affect the cooperation between the two countries in military and counter-terrorism aspects, says Peter R. Lavoy, Director, Center for Contemporary Conflict, and an academician attached to the Naval Postgraduate school, Monterey, in the U.S.

A counter-proliferation expert, Dr. Lavoy, at a personal level feels there is growing consensus among bureaucrats, planners and the military in India in accepting and supporting the U.S. stand on two major foreign policy issues - countering terrorism and national missile defence.

Although in the post `September 11' and `December 13' phase, Indo-U.S. ties, especially defence ties, had indeed strengthened the closer interaction between the two countries even predates these major incidents.

Right from 1998, the U.S. has recognised India's concerns in the region. The latest Indo-U.S. defence cooperation only looked at areas of mutual interest and concern.

The lack of trust on both sides in the `Cold War' days, because of differences in perception of their mutual foreign policy agenda, is giving way to consensus among the military, bureaucratic and planning establishments, especially in India, for meaningful cooperation.

So, even if the political leadership changes, the military and bureaucratic leadership would be assertive, says Dr. Lavoy who was in Chennai to attend a seminar on `South Asian security'.

On the present state of U.S ties with Pakistan - seen as a frontline State in the `war against terror' - Dr. Lavoy, who is a former Director for Counter-Proliferation Policy in the U.S. Department of Defence, says America's ties with the two South Asian countries were quite independent of each other.

The U.S acknowledges Gen. Musharraf's brave actions against Islamic fundamentalism.

Dr. Lavoy agrees with the notion that the militants and Taliban supporters might be lying low and that the Pakistani leader might not be in full control of the militants.

But the U.S and India, ``I feel should encourage Gen. Musharraf to continue to put pressure on fundamentalists... because to counter terror the best idea would be to keep up the aggressive pressure on the movements, their funding and support mechanism''.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, Dr. Lavoy highlighted the need for India and Pakistan to work towards ``strategic stability'', a concept that recognises the need to curb first strike by any one of the two nuclearised countries.

The civil establishment, with support from the academia, should work closely with the military on what kind of deterrence should be kept in place and its cost, on how to reduce the cost of preparation for war and in case the deterrence fails, how to limit the damage.

Indian military, he feels, is reviewing strategies after the Kargil war, to arrive at better inter-service coordination.

This could be crucial in future both to avert war and in case of a conflict, to make quick and decisive military strikes.

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