CRS: Background on US-India Nuclear Policy [PDF]

Unlike U.S.-Pakistan military ties, which date back to the 1950s, security cooperation between the United States and India is in the early stages of development. Since September 2001, and despite a concurrent U.S. rapprochement with Pakistan, U.S.-India security cooperation has flourished. Both countries acknowledge a desire for greater bilateral security cooperation and a series of measures have been taken to achieve this. In August 2004, a top U.S. diplomat in India claimed that “military cooperation remains one of the most vibrant, visible, and proactive legs powering the transformation of U.S.-India relations.” The India-U.S. Defense Policy Group (DPG) — moribund since India’s 1998 nuclear tests and ensuing U.S. sanctions — was revived in late 2001 and meets annually. In June 2005, the United States and India signed a ten-year defense pact calling for collaboration in multilateral operations, expanded two-way defense trade, increasing opportunities for technology transfers and co-production, expanded collaboration related to missile defense, and establishment of a bilateral Defense Procurement and Production Group. India’s Leftist parties, some Indian defense analysts, and the government of Pakistan have criticized the pact. Some analysts laud increased U.S.- India security ties as providing counterbalance to growing Chinese influence in the region.