India's Eastern Focus

By Dave Anderson:

Pakistan supports the Quetta Shura Taliban and other anti-government insurgent groups/networks in Afghanistan because Pakistan wants strategic depth against India.  The warlords of the Northern Alliance and the Karzai government have a long history of having good working ties with India.  Crushing Pashtun nationalism and strength in the south and replacing the Pashtuns as the dominant group in Afghani politics with a Tajik would strengthen India's hand by restricting Pakistan's depth and this prompts the Gordian Knot of Pakistan looking out for its own interests that derive from a sixty year history of being a much smaller/weaker nation with a history of antagonism with India. 

The way to cut that knot is to go big and provide Pakistan with either strategic depth and strength to rebalance against India or have India worry about its northeastern borders far more than its northwestern borders. 

Defense Tech is running a piece today that illustrates the degree to which India is beginning to worry about China.  Indian military purchases are being made with China in mind as India wants the ability to quickly reinforce its northeastern frontier and to pose a strategic threat to Chinese shipping lanes the bring Southwest Asian oil and East African resources/raw materials to China. 

India has started nego�ti�at�ing the pur�chase of C-??17 globe�mas�ter air�crafts from the US gov�ern�ment in a deal worth approx�i�mately US$1.7 billion.

Wing Commander Raghu Rajan (ret.) says that the induc�tion of the C-??17 would enhance India�s capa�bil�ity to mobilise more num�ber of troops in a short-??span of time...

As a part of its mod�erni�sa�tion pro�gram and to counter the grow�ing threat per�cep�tion from its big neigh�bor China, the IAF has ini�ti�ated a slew of mea�sures like open�ing three new advanced land�ing grounds (ALG) in the past two years and going in for large scale acqui�si�tions. The lat�est being  Nyoma in east�ern Ladakh, just 23 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, which was opened in September this year....

The deal, which is expected to be finalised by early 2010 would be Boeings sec�ond largest deal with New Delhi, US$ 2.1 bil�lion agree�ment in January this year to pur�chase eight P-??8 mar�itime patrol air�craft being the largest.

C-17s don't do much for India in Kashmir or on the coastal plains as India has a fairly dense road and rail network near the Pakistani border.  Instead the 8 C-17s would allow India to quickly move a light infantry battalion in a single lift to minimally prepared fields.  A light battalion is nothing on the Pakistani border, but it is a significant reinforcement on the Chinese border. 

The more India focuses its aquisitions and strategy on China, the less pressure Pakistan will feel, and the less likely it will deem deep strategic depth in Afghanistan a critical national need.