What if India was allied with the US during the Cold War?

Yusuf

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A casual talk on shout led me to think about what the scene would have been like if India was allied with the US post independence and during the Cold War. All the historical events that have transpired because we were against them and how it would have pandered out if we were with them. Also if we were allied with the US, what would the Soviets have done?

Points that can be discussed can be,
1) What would have happened to the Kashmir issue?
2) Our relations with Pakistan.
3) Bangladesh liberation?
4) Relations with China
5) Economic benefits
6) Strategic benefits etc

If we see US allies like South Korea, Germany, Japan all devastated after WWII, allied with the US and reaped great benefits. Add Israel too in the list and many other states.

So was India on the wrong side of the warring super power during the Cold War?
 

pankaj nema

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We need to look at our history and Background first . Having won our Independence from UK our political class and PM wanted to keep a safe distance from ANGLO SAXONS . There was a trust deficit with US - UK

Also keeping in view our extreme poverty The development model that we preferred rightly so was that of
socialism and a mixed economy .So the Soviet Union fulfilled our both poltical and economic needs
 

dranzer

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So was India on the wrong side of the warring super power during the Cold War?[/QUOTE]

well india wasn't on russia's side ...so what did u mean when u asked if india was on the wrong side?
 

dranzer

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india followed the policy of non -alignment...they weren't supporting either ussr or U.S...agreed that india were on closer terms with ussr than the united states but we weren't exactly on the wrong side of ay country...(except inevitably may be pakistan)
By the way the topic is exciting...please continue...
 
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Yusuf

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US followed a policy to contain India. They sent their 7th fleet to BoB during the 71 war. India was a defacto ally of USSR though our outward policy remained that of being non aligned. We supported the Soviet invasion of Astan too.
 

dranzer

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US followed a policy to contain India. They sent their 7th fleet to BoB during the 71 war. India was a defacto ally of USSR though our outward policy remained that of being non aligned. We supported the Soviet invasion of Astan too.
oh...ok ...Thanks for clearing that out...pls continue
 

pankaj nema

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The most important US policy goal in cold war was CONTAINMENT of the soviet Union.
US aid to Japan ,south korea ,Germany was done to contain spread of communism
US realised the importance of China and cultivated China in order to weaken Soviet union. And ultimately US succeeded in weaning away China from Soviet influence .USSR China alliance was nightmare for USA

If faced with a choice between India and China ; ie which country would be more useful for US goal of containing soviet union, then US would have found China more useful than India and India would have been sidelined

Our policy makers decided in 1964 ,after the chinese Nuclear test that India had to go nuclear.
Since there was growing information that India was interested in Nukes, a DISCRIMINATORY NPT
was framed and India was denied entry in the nuclear club
This was done as a result of growing US china friendship .China never wanted India to get Nukes

The India US relations were embittered because of our Nuclear programme The reason US was against our
Nukes was that It wanted China as Asian unchallenged super power.

If we were to align with US we would have lost the Unflinching, unwavering support of the Soviet union which continues to this day when Russia does nt sell Arms to Pakistan.

Even after 1991 when BOTH Russia and India were facing economic problems ,Russia still REFUSED to sell arms to pakistan.
Pakistan wanted Su 27 bomber when F16 was stopped due to sanctions.Also S 300 SAM was refused
Now that is FRIENDSHIP

The reason why US is the MOST HATED COUNTRY IN PAKISTAN is because US is seen as an unreliable ally which has dumped Pakistan many times and when India became RICH and Strong ,US has dumped Pakistan in favour of india.

Similarly India would have been dumped in favour of China.
 

neo29

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India followed Non aligned movement, but was surely close to Soviet primarily becoz India bought majority of military hardware from them. With Pak problems with India since the begining US always supported Pak and even the kashmir movement. It was later down the line they stopped supporting the Pakistan on Kashmir issue. The only super power apart from US was Soviet who backed us everyway.

India could not have allied with US primarily due to US' closeness to Pakistan. For India to ally with US in cold war, Pakistan should not have existed.
 

Yusuf

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The United States continued to work to prevent the PRC from taking China's seat in the United Nations and encouraged its allies not to deal with the PRC. The United States placed an embargo on trading with the PRC, and encouraged allies to follow it. The PRC developed nuclear weapons in 1964 and, as later declassified documents revealed, President Johnson considered preemptive attacks to halt its nuclear program. Ultimately he decided the measure was too risky and it was abandoned.

Despite this official non-recognition, beginning in 1954 and continuing until 1970, the United States and the People's Republic of China held 136 meetings at the ambassadorial level, first in Geneva and later in Warsaw.
 

Yusuf

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[hl] The purpose of starting this thread in HQ is to get some high quality discussion on this matter. I think there are a lot of things to discuss considering the history we know. No one liners or irrelevant posts here please. We can deviate from the topic only to get a different perspective keeping the topic in mind. [/hl]
 

pankaj nema

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Indian foreign policy has been a success.We wanted friend ship with US but we TRUSTED USSR.
Foreign policy is as effective as your economic strength
If our economic growth could have been faster India US relations would have been better.

India was considered as a "basket case " till 1991 .After 1998 nuclear tests Indian economy handled sanctions quite easily because after 1991 economic reforms had strengthened our economy.

Pakistan faced a melt down. The differences between Indian and Pakistan economies was too obvious to ignore. US realised after 1998 ,it has re orient its relations with India.So came the high profile Clinton visit and then there has been no looking back for Indo US relations.
 

Yusuf

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After Indian independence until the end of the cold war, the relationship between the two nations has often been thorny. Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S. President to visit India in 1959. He was so supportive of India that the New York Times remarked "It did not seem to matter much whether Nehru had actually requested or been given a guarantee that the U.S. would help India to meet further Chinese communist aggression. What mattered was the obvious strengthening of Indian-American friendship to a point where no such guarantee was necessary."

During John F. Kennedy's period as President, he saw India as a strategic partner against the rise of communist China. He said "Chinese Communists have been moving ahead the last 10 years. India has been making some progress, but if India does not succeed with her 450 million people, if she can't make freedom work, then people around the world are going to determine, particularly in the underdeveloped world, that the only way they can develop their resources is through the Communist system."

From 1961 to 1963 there was a promise to help set up a large steel mill in Bokaro that was withdrawn by the U.S. The 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars did not help their relations. During the Cold War, the U.S. asked for Pakistan's help because India was seen to lean towards the Soviet Union. Later, when India would not agree to support the anti-Soviet operation in Afghanistan, it was left with few allies. Not until 1997 was there any effort to improve relations with the United States.

We missed a great opportunity during our formative years to align with the most advanced nation on earth. We can also say that because we didnt, we became a close society. We closed our economy and heavily regulated it. On the other hand, countries like South Korea, Japan, West Germany, Israel whole heartedly allied with the US and they became powerful economically.
 

pankaj nema

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The Afghan invasion of 1979 by USSR changed PAkistan's importance overnight .Pakistan started recieving heavy US arms aid.Since the COLD WAR was in full swing , soviets too were very generous .India made payments for soviet arms in Rupees, TEA AND Detergents

I wonder which country can be more generous than that
The 1971 victory was Impossible If we didn t have USSR standing behind India.

When USS aircraft carrier enterprise entered Bay of Bengal ,USSR navy was Already present.
So USS enterprise didnt come close to our shores or else US Navy could have blocked Calcutta harbor
and US planes would have attacked our troops in bangladesh.
 

pankaj nema

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The other very important help that we received from USSR was when we attacked GOA to liberate it
Please see US response to our attack , which happened in 1961.

Not only that the security council wanted to impose sanctions which was VETOED BY USSR.
US and UK could not stomach the fact that India attacked an European colony
 

Yusuf

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Pankaj, there is no denying the fact that the USSR did help India. Please read the topic again. What if India was close to the US since 1947. No NAM, and against the USSR?? Lets not discuss what the soviets did for us.
 

pankaj nema

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Even if we were to cultivate friendship with USA after 1947 , India would have been STRANDED AND SACRIFICED at the altar of Geo politics at various points of TIME

US would have found India USELESS in CONTAINING Communism

Similarly PAkistan was more useful in Afghan war. US wanted to give USSR its OWN VIETNAM
So PAkistan was most important to them.

And then USSR would have told India to get lost.
For USA every country is just a TOOL FOR furthering its own interests

Our economic development was and is entirely in our hands .US was not a MAGIC WAND ,we didnt implement our policies properly.Pakistan gets spoon feeding but its economy is still hopeless.
 

pankaj nema

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US and India could have had better relations if India was a liberal capitalisitic economy.But in a very poor country which India was after 1947 ,such a model means inviting DISASTER.And anarchy.

So we had to go for mixed economic model. Our mistake was,we should have reformed earlier like china did in 1978
 

ajtr

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Simple answer yusuf......

India would have been in pakistan's place if it would have allied with usa.
 
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UK played a major role in preventing Indian and US ties from developing during the cold war. One of the major factors that pushed India into the Russian camp during the cold war was the 1962 Indo-china war.
 

amoy

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countries like South Korea, Japan, West Germany, Israel whole heartedly allied with the US and they became powerful economically.
++++++++++++++++++

Out of curiosity --- Philipines, after ww2 had the highest GDP per capita in Asia.

It was also a close ally of the US with military bases serving the strategy of containing China and communism.

It was also a 'democracy'.

Everybody speaks good English.

+++++++++
Question: why hasn't it got successful economically despite being on the right side wholeheartedly (in comparison with Japan, or Germany) ?
 

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