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K. Alan Kronstadt, Congressional Research Service
Updated July 15, 2003
US Policy toward India
Although the end of the cold
war freed India-U.S. relations from the constraints of global bipolarity, New
Delhi-Washington relations continued for a decade to be affected by the burden
of history, most notably the longstanding India-Pakistan rivalry. Recent years,
however, have witnessed a sea change in bilateral relations, with more positive
inter-actions becoming the norm. India’s swift offer of full support for U.S.-led
anti-terrorism operations after the September 2001 attacks on the United States
is widely viewed as
Continuing U.S. concern in
South Asia focuses especially on the historic and ongoing tensions between
nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, tensions rooted in unfinished busi-ness from
the 1947 Partition, and competing claims to the former princely state of Kashmir.
The United States also seeks to prevent the regional proliferation of nuclear
weapons and ballistic missiles. Both India and Pakistan have so far resisted
U.S. and international pressure to sign the major international
In May 1998, India conducted a
series of unannounced nuclear tests that evoked inter-national condemnation.
Pakistan reported conducting its own nuclear tests less than three weeks later.
As a result of these tests, President Clinton imposed wide-ranging sanctions on
both countries, as mandated under the Arms Export Control Act. Many of these
sanctions gradually were lifted through congressional-executive cooperation from
1998 to 2000. The remaining nuclear sanc-tions on India (and Pakistan) were
removed by President Bush in September 2001.
The United States also has been concerned with human rights issues related to regional dissidence and separatist movements in Kashmir, Punjab, and India’s Northeast region. Strife in these areas has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, mili-tants, and security forces over the two past decades. Communalism has also been a matter of concern, with spring 2002 rioting in the Gujarat state resulting in more than 2,000, mostly Muslim, deaths. International human rights groups, as well as Congress and the U.S. State Department, have criticized India for perceived human rights abuses in these regions.
The United States has been
supportive of India’s efforts to transform its formerly quasi-socialist
economy through fiscal reform and market opening. Beginning in 1991, India has
been taking steps to reduce inflation and the budget deficit, privatize
state-owned industries, reduce tariffs and industrial licens-ing controls, and
institute incentives to attract foreign trade and investment. Successive
coalition governments have kept India on a general path of economic reform and
market opening, though there continues to be U.S. concern that such movement has
been slow and inconsistent.
The current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government is headed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The coalition has been in power since October 1999 na-tional elections decisively ended the historic dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi-led Congress Party. The BJP has close ties to Hindu-nationalist parties and organizations in India and national elections in 2004 could pit these increasingly influential groups against those who wish to retain India’s secular traditions. See also CRS Report RL31644, U.S.-India Security Relations, and CRS Report RS21502, India-U.S. Economic Relations.
This document is not necessarily endorsed by the Almanac of Policy Issues. It is being preserved in the Policy Archive for historic reasons.