Path through Bush

Pakistan8217;s relations with the US have come a long way between President Bill Clinton8217;s visit six years ago and George W. Bush8217;s last week. For Clinton, who spent five days in India and barely five hours in Islamabad, Pakistan was increasingly irrelevant to American strategic needs. Contrast that with Bush, who chose to demonstrate his solidarity with Pakistan8217;s President Pervez Musharraf by spending a night in Islamabad in spite of the terror attacks last week in Karachi: terror following 9/11 is, of course, the reason behind the upgrade.

Bush has capped the growing engagement with Pakistan now with the launch of a strategic dialogue, an energy dialogue and a host of economic initiatives including duty free concessions and a bilateral investment treaty. Given his determination not to give offence to India on Kashmir and his frank refusal to extend civilian nuclear energy cooperation with Pakistan, strategic partnership with Pakistan was the least that the President had to deliver to his hosts. In his public comments Bush was forthright in pressing Musharraf on accelerating democratic reforms and ensuring that the slated general elections in 2007 are 8220;open and honest8221;. Bush also insisted, publicly, that Pakistan must do more to combat terrorism.

For India, Bush8217;s formal statements in Pakistan are welcome in their diplomatic consistency. There was no shift in either the nuance or the emphasis in the remarks on Kashmir and Indo-Pak relations that Bush made in New Delhi and Islamabad. Even more fundamentally, Bush has underscored the emerging reality that India and the US must work together to nudge Pakistan towards political moderation, democratisation and economic modernisation. For the first time in history, sustained American engagement with Pakistan has the potential to meet some of India8217;s own real objectives. Given its historic fears about Kashmir, India has never found it easy to be objective about US-Pakistan relations. Irrational fear and an intellectual laziness have always clouded India8217;s assessment of the history and evolution of US-Pak ties. As he rejigs American policy towards Southern Asia, Bush has done his best to allay India8217;s concerns about Washington8217;s relations with Islamabad. As Bush underlines the growing economic, political, strategic and nuclear differentiation between India and Pakistan, it is now up to New Delhi to demonstrate leadership on regional peace and reconciliation.