ARY Agar: Guest Maliha Lodhi on Pak-US relations 24 Feb-2012

[VCheng]

We are specifically focused on US policy in this region, not their overall global policies.

US policy in the region is focused mainly on two objectives: eliminating the areas acting as incubators for terrorism against it, and keeping the peace between major players, while isolating Iran.

As for India, as much as they claim to have moved on beyond Pakistan, the fact of the matter is that India can never attain regional hegemony with a defiant Pakistan next door.

So that I may attempt a better answer, before I do so, could you please explain how you would define "regional hegemony" and "defiance" in this context, and how present policies of both India and Pakistan support your contention, given your own definition.

Subduing Pakistan is a necessary milestone before anyone (especially in the region) will take India's military rise seriously.

India's rise is not military for that is only a byproduct of economic development. I would say that, no matter how you define "subduing", if it indeed is a goal of Indian policy, it is far more likely to be achieved by non-military means.

The US feels that a direct confrontation between nuclear India and Pakistan is too dangerous, so neutralizing Pakistan must be done through convert means.

Any nuclear conflict is too horrible to contemplate and thus must be avoided at all costs. Again, I do not understand the rationale for your feeling that USA wants to somehow "neutralize" Pakistan. After all, USA has accommodated a nuclear Pakistan in its calculus for decades, and is likely to continue to do so.

"Death by a thousand cuts" recast.

What if those thousand cuts are self-inflicted by Pakistan itself? Why blame anyone else for that, specially USA?