By Andrew L. Jaffee

The Bush administration has seen its share of problems recently, but it deserves kudos for an agreement reached Thursday building closer ties between the U.S. and India. What more natural alliance than one between two democracies? Yes, India is a nuclear power, but its arsenal is under the control of its people through democratically-elected representatives. India has given up on its failed socialist experiment, and is now a free-market powerhouse, with a middle class of 250 million. Also making the subcontinent a natural ally, India has suffered from the scourge of Islamo-fascism. India is an outpost of democracy in a sea of corruption and dictatorship. Pragmatically, what better strategic counter-balance would there be in Asia to the insane tyrants ruling countries like Iran, who insist that “Islam must ‘conquer the world’ by defeating the West?”

It should not be forgotten that India has broken from the Third World herd mentality, by voting against Iran at the UN, and forging diplomatic and military ties with the “pariah” State of Israel.

Despite its geographic location, India is practically part of the West, partially by virtue of its Anglosphere (British) legacy, but also because its major religious traditions, both Hindu and Buddhist, advocate quite tolerant philosophies.

There is more to Indo-U.S. relations than strategic and tactical concerns. Indian culture started making inroads into U.S. society during the 60’s, as flower-children looked to expand their horizons by exploring alternative spiritual traditions. But Indian cultural influence has never been as strong as it is now. Many Indians have immigrated to the U.S., and their contributions to our society are no less than amazing. Their ties to the homeland help bind our two nations together.

Young Americans are dancing to Punjabi Bhangra music. More and more U.S. citizens are tasting Indian cuisine. Americans are discovering the beautiful teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita and Upanishads. Poets and writers are voraciously consuming the verses of Rabindranath Tagore. Indian-American engineers have helped fuel America’s great tech/Internet revolution (e.g., through companies like Juniper Networks or Exodus — worth about $235 billion in stock market value).

India is a free market, pluralistic society — the biggest on Earth. It is destined to become one of the world’s most influential countries — economically, culturally, technologically, and strategically. It is only natural for the U.S., the most powerful democracy, to ally itself with the most important up-and-coming democracy.

To my amazement, the Washington Post agrees, and describes other positives which could result from Bush’s visit to the subcontinent:

The clearest win out of yesterday’s bargain is a closer relationship with India, the world’s most populous democracy, an emerging powerhouse in engineering and medicine, and a potential counterweight both to militant Islam and China. But there are other wins, too. Allowing India to import foreign technology for its civilian nuclear program will boost global efforts to develop new sources of energy, particularly sources that won’t increase the level of climate-warming gases. In exchange for the opportunity to import nuclear know-how, India will disentangle its civilian nuclear program from its weapons-building facilities, subjecting the civilian side to multilateral inspections designed to ensure that technology or fissile material isn’t diverted for military purposes. Again, this represents a gain: Currently only four of India’s nuclear facilities are subject to foreign safeguards, and these are less muscular than the inspections to which India will be submitting. Finally, India will promise not to export nuclear equipment or material deemed sensitive by other nuclear powers. At present, India respects these international rules; in the future it would be formally committed to them.

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Related: United States, India

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