The security of South Asia: Regional conflicts and external induction

South Asia consists of the states bounded by the Himalayas and Hindu Kush mountains to the north and west, and the Indian Ocean to the south -and includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives [1] Collectively, the region constitutes one quarter of the human race, with a population equal to that of Latin America and Africa combined Culturally, it is as diverse as all of Europe -the social distance between Pathan and Tamil being about the same as that between Turk and Swede Economically, the span is greater, as South Asia contains the world's largest concentration of the very poorest of the world -as well as components of a developed, thriving modern economy, especially in India It is a disservice to speak of South Asia as a "Third World' region, given the ambiguity of that term, the diversity of states in the region, and the internal heterogeneity of the region's largest state, India [2] Such terms have overwhelmed us, and even the Indian government claims membership in the Third World", but Jawaharlal Nehru's vehement criticism of the idea of a 'Third Force" (the precursor to Third World) bears repeating What the Third Force means I have been wholly unable to understand Numbers do not make a force It will not make the slightest difference to the great military powers of today if the militarily weak countries band themselves together If it takes the shape of banding together, even the ability to exert moral pressure goes into the background, and the physical side canes up We have, therefore, opposed the idea of a Third Force The moment we talk in these terms, we adopt to some extent the cold war approach and language of hostility We have enough problems of our own, and such influence as we have in the world is because of our modesty, not because of our shouting [3] Strategically, the region was often thought to be vulnerable and weak -as indeed it was during the great Islamic invasions from Central Asia in the 14th century onward and from the European invasions (by sea) from the 16th century onward Earlier history recorded the invasion of Alexander the Great More recently, the Japanese invaded in 1943, the Chinese in 1962, and the Soviets occupied Afghanistan in late 1979 But this picture of vulnerability is not entirely accurate much of Southeast Asia was under Indian cultural influence frati the seventh to the thirteenth centuries A D , and the Indian Chola Kingdom conducted naval raids m the Malacca straits m the eleventh century, parts of Tibet and Afghanistan were frequently entered and ruled by Indian and British forces Indeed, the British, Portuguese, French, and Dutch all used their South Asian territories to support their activities in East and Southeast Asia British domination of South Asia was made possible by control of the sea, which they maintained twenty years after they left India, and careful attention to the limitrophic regions of Tibet and Afghanistan At first overreaching themselves, they settled on a policy of keeping these two regions out of the hands of hostile Czarist or imperial Chinese forces The popular media would now have it that South Asia was "the Jewel in the Crown', and that the British reluctantly departed because of exhaustion This is inaccurate India had been a treasure trove of silk, jewels and spices through the 19th century But its value declined just as the Raj was at its peak First, the Royal Navy canne to be fueled by oil, increasing the relative importance of the barren lands between India and the Mediterranean Second, India's spices and exotica were less than vital to an industrializing society Indeed, as Indian manufactured goods began to compete with British ones, India became something of a threat By the 20th century, the South Asian possessions came to be of instrumental importance and the Indian army began to play a supporting role in the Middle East, the Far East and Southeast Asia The defense of India remained important, but was also part of an overall imperial defense system [4] From being the jewel m the crown, India was relegated to a position of marginal equality with other regions The structure that had kept the peace m South Asia for 150 years was shattered by the coming of independence m 1947, and a dominant India found itself faced by a lesser, but ideologically potent Pakistan Yet the region as a whole was not threatened from the outside Tibet remained a buffer for several years, Afghanistan was a weak state, and the ocean was in safe Western hands India and Pakistan could 'afford" their 1947-48 conflict since no outside power could take advantage of their mutual obsession This changed quickly Tibet was lost to China in 1949, with Nehru's acquiescence, enabling the Chinese to confront and defeat India m 1962, the British withdrew from the Indian Ocean m 1968 and the O S , distracted by Vietnam, failed to make a smooth transition, finally, Afghanistan became linked to the Soviet Union after the 1978 coup Gradually, the conflict between India and Pakistan has been played out under new rules as one major power after another established themselves on the region's kashmir periphery Today, it not only features indirect involvement by the U S , the Soviet Union, and China, but apotential nuclear breakout Further, other regional conflicts -stemming

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