I was reading a great story just yesterday out of the Asian Times about India focusing its foreign policy around the USA less as we forge a military relationship with Pakistan in exchange for recognizing them as a World Power. You can see in this OP alone why that worries India, is it any surprise that they are now buying fighter jets from Russia?
Here are some insightful excerpts from “India Shifts a New Direction.”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LC12Df03.html
“Delhi underestimated that Pakistan is the US’s key non-NATO ally in the war and that implicit in this is Pakistan’s expectation to be recognized by Washington as a regional power. In fact, the US has been harping on a fundamental theme: Pakistan has a choice to make, namely, whether it wants to have a comprehensive partnership with the US and NATO; and if so, that it must cooperate with Washington’s strategies in the region.
The prevailing view in India is that the Pakistani military continues to play it both ways. But they may be in for disillusionment as there strong likelihood is that Pakistani army chief Kiani may have begun to explore the potential of the US offer.
Pakistan estimates that it is closer than at any time before to gaining “strategic depth” in Afghanistan - and this time, Washington may acquiesce. Indeed, the US is encouraging Pakistan-Afghanistan harmony in any way it can. However, Pakistan carefully assesses that the US’s regional strategies have significant implications for its “all-weather friendship” with China, its adversarial ties with India, and its troubled relationship with Iran. The US strategies aim at countering China’s rise, fostering a strategic partnership with India and navigating the standoff with Iran on Washington’s terms”
“But there is a big picture, too. The Indian strategic community overlooked that the US war had a hidden agenda. Simply put, NATO’s enlargement into Central Asia, the US’s containment strategy toward China (and Russia and Iran) and Pakistan’s key role in US regional strategy - all these impact India’s interests. Most important, there is a likelihood of regional hotspots such as North Caucasus, the Ferghana Valley, Xinjiang and Kashmir lighting up.”
“In retrospect, Delhi’s hare-brained idea of a US-led “quadripartite alliance” against China, the “Tibet card”, the dilution of a 2003 strategic understanding with Iran, neglect of the traditional friendship with Russia, the lukewarm attitude toward the SCO, exaggerated notions within the establishment regarding the US-India strategic partnership as an alternative to an independent foreign policy and diversified external relationships - all these appear now like dreadful pantomimes out of India’s foreign policy chronicle of recent years that Delhi would rather not think about.”
With all that said, this seems to be necessary sacrifice at the moment and we should give the Pakistanis credit for fighting against the Taliban in the West. They will also do a great deal in the future to help build up the Afghan forces, as once again India’s influence is usurped and they see a drawback in their forces.
As NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated, “I would like to encourage Muslim countries to engage in Afghanistan ... Muslim countries have valuable cultural and religious awareness and expertise to bear”.