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Today’s The Hindu, a leading Indian newspaper, has an interesting article on India’s role in the developing security and power balance in South Asia. The article discusses Iran’s plans for regional dominance upon U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan, India-Pakistan relations vis-à-vis Afghanistan, the Obama administration’s overreliance on Pakistan, and developments in India-Iran relations that are all putting India’s interests in the region at peril. Here’s a passage of note:
The article concludes that energy security spearheaded by India in the region—a la resurrecting the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline while bringing the Russians and Chinese into the fold—may be the key to stability. However, a U.S. role is conspicuously absent from the offered solution.
This view captures Indian perceptions on the state of the U.S.-India relationship under the Obama administration. As the administration continues to rewind the relationship to pre-Bush, pre-strategic partnership days, the less chance that our only real “strategic partner” in the region—India—will see it’s in its interest to work with us on issues critical to our own security. Food for thought.
We should debate the details of paid family leave policies, but the argument cannot be that the status quo is working when low wage workers cannot afford to take time off when necessary.
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