The final draft of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform, which will be voted on during the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver, Colorado, has declared that the United States and India are 'natural strategic allies'.
In the section entitled 'Renewing American Leadership', which contains a paragraph that calls for 'Lead in Asia', the platform stated, "We are committed to US engagement in Asia."
"This begins with maintaining strong relationships with allies like Japan, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines and deepening our ties to vital democratic partners, like India, in order to create a stable and prosperous Asia," it added.
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In the same section, in a paragraph titled 'Deepen Ties with Emerging Powers', the platform stated, "We will also pursue effective collaboration on pressing global issues among all the major powers -- including such newly emerging ones as China, India, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria, and South Africa."
And then singling out India, it said, "With India, we will build on the close partnership developed over the past decade. As two of the world's great, multi-ethnic democracies, the US and India are natural strategic allies, and we must work together to advance our common interests and to combat the common threats of the 21st century."
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"We believe it is in the United States' interest that all of these emerging powers and others assume a greater stake in promoting international peace, and respect for human rights, including through their more constructive participation in key global institutions," the platform added.
Karl F Inderfurth, former assistant secretary of state for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton administration and a foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign, told rediff.com, "This is a significant enhancement in the content and placement of India over the 2004 Democratic platform."
"The Obama platform had put India into the category of a rising global power as opposed to the often expressed hyphenated relationship (vis-à-vis Pakistan)," he said.
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Inderfurth said, "This is a strong statement on the importance of US-Indian relations and on India's rising global power status in conjunction with China, Russia, Brazil etc, putting it into the category of emerging global powers."
In a paragraph titled, 'Seek a New Partnership with Pakistan', the platform warned, "The greatest threat to the security of the Afghan people and the American people -- lies in the tribal region on Pakistan, where terrorists train, plot attacks and strike into Afghanistan and move back across the border."
"We cannot tolerate a sanctuary for Al Qaeda," it said, and called for a "stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation -- including necessary assets like satellites and predator drones -- to better secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents."
The platform said, "We must help Pakistan develop its own counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency capacity."
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In language that seemingly reflected the imprimatur of Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and among those tipped to be named by Obama as his vice presidential running mate, pledged, "We will invest in the long-term development of the Pashtun border region, so that the extremists' programme of hate is met with an agenda of hope."
But the next few paragraphs clearly showed that events had overrun elements of the platform following the recent resignation of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, as it vowed to "ask more of the Pakistani government; rather than offer a blank cheque to an undemocratic President."
"We will significantly increase non-military aid to the Pakistani people and sustain it for a decade, while ensuring that the military assistance we provide is actually used to fight extremists," it said.
The platform reiterated Obama's contention that US needed to follow a Paksiatn police and not a Musharraf police, the platform stated, "We must move beyond an alliance built on individual leaders, or we will face mounting opposition in a nuclear-armed nation at the nexus of terror, extremism, and the instability wrought by autocracy."
