India-US Strategic Cooperation: It Started During the Cold War

 

It is interesting to note that India, a Non -Aligned country taunted by Dulles for“sitting on the fence”, continued to milk Uncle Sam throughout the Cold War period. After the 1962 Sino- India border war, when Non -Aligned India was caught in the no man’s land, the United States and Britain provided India $ 120 million worth of military aid. The program included a variety of military equipment, but its central feature was the raising of six Indian mountain divisions (Bhutto, 1969). It has been stated earlier that the 1962 Sino- Indian War provided the United States an opportunity to increase American influence over India without coercing the latter into a formal and declared part.

                                                                                        

Pakistan agreed to the US conditions without a reciprocal American commitment about its security against India. However, till the early 1960s, America did consider maintaining some sort of military balance in South Asia. According to AyubKhan (1962), Kennedy had assured him  that Pakistan’s military problems would not be made difficult, and if and when arms aid was given in this region Pakistanwouldbeconsulted.

 

Pakistanis keep lamenting about  America’s indifference toward Pakistan during the 65 and 71 wars. Pakistan joined the US-sponsored Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1955. Indo- US strategic cooperation started in1956 (before China formally annexed Tibet in 1959) when the CIA established a base camp at Kalimpong, near India’s border with Tibet, to recruit Tibetan guerrillas to fight Chinese troops. Soon thereafter the CIA-trained militias in the eastern Khamregionstarted fighting the Chinese.

 

Whereas the US, during the Cold War period, used Pakistan as the cat’s paw, it made sure that Pakistan would not pose a major military threat to India. The M-47and M-48 tanks, supplied to Pakistan, had their infra-red devices removed before they were shipped to Pakistan. Hence, Pakistani armor did not possess the nightfightingcapabilityduringthe1965and1971wars. Similarly, the service life of the torpedoes that came with the US-supplied submarine Ghazi had expired. As a result, when Ghazi hit INS Nilgiri during the 65 War, the torpedo struck inside the frigate's hull and failed to explode. Well, this may be an unfortunate coincidence, but happened it did.

 

It is worthwhile to mention here that in October 1965, a few days after the cease-fire between India and Pakistan, the CIA, with logistics support from India’s Intelligence Bureau planted a nuclear-powered remote sensing device atop the 25,645-foot mountain feature Nanda Devi, located in India’s UP (now Uttarakhand) state. Soon thereafter, another device was planted by the Americans on Nanda Kot, a nearby feature. Both the devices were planted to spy on China's long-range ballistic missile program. Such was the extent of The US- India strategic relationship during the period Pakistan had been touted as America’s “most allied ally”.

 

However, to claim that the US never wanted its military aid to be used by Pakistan in coercing India should be taken with a pinch of salt. During the 1950s, the administration under President Eisenhower was deeply resentful of Nehru for his insistence to remain non-committed, hence the concept of Non-Alignment. John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State had snubbed Nehru by describing nonalignment as “sitting on the fence”.

Between 1954 and 1965, the US provided aid not only to enhance Pakistan’s economy but also gave enough tanks

 for raising two armored divisions. These armored formations were to be stationed at Multan and Kharian cantonments, both constructed with US assistance (The Americans had even recommended that the 6Armoured Divisions should be located at Kharian). The Americans knew very well that armor would never be used against a purported communist threat either from the Soviet Union, or China. America’s ultimate objective in the Asia-Pacific region was to bring India within its sphere of influence. Towards this end,    Uncle Sam was not averse to employing a carrot-and-stick policy with India.