Journal of Indian Studies

Vol. 5, No. 2, July – December, 2019, pp. 245 – 254

U.S. President Trump Policies towards South Asia with

Particular Reference to Afghanistan, India and
Pakistan

Muhammad Owais
University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT

President Donald Trump’s announcement of revision of policies towards South Asia in

August 2017 gave a new strategy for Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. This policy has
resemblance with that of Obama in many spheres but deviates from Obama’s as well,
especially in the case of India. South Asia is now in the position of constant change, and
this flux is getting complexed by Trump’s policy. Trump’s approach towards Islamabad is
skeptical and harsh, and his idea of broader role must be played by New Delhi in the matters
of Afghanistan is very much concerning, and more precisely threatening for the national
interest of Islamabad. It seems that Donald Trump’s practical policy application has been
different from the one he had verbally conveyed. This paper thoroughly describes every
aspect of the policy of Trump towards South Asia in the light of his speech made regarding
South Asia. It has also description that why South Asia is important to America, and how
the policy of Trump could not be favorable for the region and can create a further increased
divide into this least integrated region.
Key Words: Trump, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan

Introduction

Donald Trump’s presidency began on January 20, 2017. He succeeded Obama and
became the 45th President of the superpower United States of America. After
taking the charge of the office, he delivered a speech on August 21 that was
merely about the future of relations between U.S. and the South Asian countries.
Trump’s South Asian foreign policy’s primary focus was on three countries that
included Afghanistan on the top of the list along with India and Pakistan (Alizada,
2018 ). His speech clearly depicted his insecurities towards Pakistan and he
conveyed his message to Pakistan that it should stop working as a safe haven for
the terrorist groups functioning in the region. He clearly said that Pakistan had a
lot to gain by helping U.S. destroying the terrorists. On the other hand, he had so
much to lose by supporting those Taliban. He claimed that America had been
giving billions and billions of dollars to Pakistan for the purpose to destroy the
Taliban but at the same time Pakistan had been giving shelter to them. It won’t be
tolerated anymore (Hafeez, 2018).

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 Muhammad Owais
If Pakistan wanted to be in the good books of America, it had to do the
demonstration of the commitment to peace, civilization and order. In regard to
Afghanistan, his policy depicted a shift from his predecessors’. He urged that the
strength of U.S. military should be increased in Afghanistan to end the war against
terrorism that had long been carried out.(MIrza, 2018). Furthermore, he said that
there would be no more making of a democratic state by U.S. military in
Afghanistan and Afghan people would decide the future of the country themselves.
He declared that the U.S. and Afghanistan would go hand in hand against their
common enemy ‘the terrorist and the terrorism’ that had long been causing
damage to this region and U.S. (Ayres, 2018).
The Republican President further said that he would prove himself as a
problem solver and made his interests regarding Pakistan and Afghanistan clear
that nuclear weapons and material of destruction must be prevented from going
into the hands of the so called terrorists and those who were being the source of
chaos and violation. He declared that the approach of U.S. from now onwards
would not be time-based, as in he would not declare that when, where and how he
would order the military to attack on the militants. According to him, this was
counterproductive to tell about the plans before the execution.(Momin, 2017 ). For
a successful outcome, he urged its cabinet and the army to combine all the factors
like political, economic, military and diplomatic in combating against any kind of
threat to U.S.
U.S. support whether it would be in the form of training, economic or
military, to Afghan government and Afghan military, was ensured by Trump as
they would be confronted by the Taliban in the battle field. U.S would be a friend
to Afghanistan and not a dictator anymore. But the Afghan Government would
have to carry his fair share of military, political and economic burden.(Khan &
Pasha, 2017). While talking about the strategic relations of U.S. with India, he
proposed a friendly policy for India. He stated India as a prominent economic and
security partner of U.S in the region and also one of the largest democracies in the
world. The one thing that was astonishing for the global public was that Trump
welcomed India to interrupt on a deeper level into the matter of Afghanistan and
asked for India’s economic assistance for the development. In return, Trump
promised India to pursue the shared goal of establishing peace and security in the
region of South Asia and on a broader level the Indo-Pacific region.

Foreign policy towards South Asia (Obama v/s Trump)

If we contrast the foreign policy of Trump and his predecessors towards South
Asia, it has not much difference. There’s a notable and considerable level of
continuity. Like Obama’s, Trump’s policy was first defensive and later on became
offensive. The areas of focus of Trump are as same as the areas of Obama were.
Striking similarity is seen prominently in India’s case at the first place.
(Kugelman, 2018). Trump has been successful in continuation of strengthening the
ties with New Delhi that Obama had left off. Narendra Modi, the prime minister of

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 U.S. President Trump Policies towards South Asia with Particular Reference to
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan
India had a very warm first meeting with Trump which resulted in deeper
integration for the strengthening of defense system, national security and economic
spheres for both the countries.(Jones, 2017),There were two main reasons for the
strengthening of these relations in both eras of Trump and Obama; one for the
eradication of the terrorism in the region and the other reason was to stand against
China’s rise in the region as well as on the global level. In the case of Afghanistan,
Trumps policy was not exact copy of Obama’s policy. Obama didn’t believe to
increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan but Trump did.(Ali, 2017).
Trump also abolished the trend of working in time frames and pre-disclosure
of the strategic plans. Furthermore, unlike Obama, Trump encouraged India’s
involvement into Afghanistan’s matter. But besides this all, the core goal of both
the Presidents was same that was to clear the land of Afghanistan from the evil
entities like the Taliban and make it a peaceful place so that there would remain no
threat to America’s security. Both the Presidents wanted to compel the insurgents
to leave the field of battle, end the war and settle the matter by negotiations with
Kabul, for which Obama had to face failure during U.S. 2010 and 2011 troop
surge. For Pakistan, Trump had different views as compared to Obama. Over the
course of time, Trump had been more coercive towards Pakistan and compelled
Pakistan to crack down all the militant groups and network that have been
attacking on the American troops in Afghanistan including the Taliban and
Haqqani network. He threatened Pakistan to impose sanctions other than freezing
aid, also threatened it to revoke the NATO non-ally status of Pakistan, if Pakistan
keeps on supporting those networks. This was the same thing done by Obama in
2011, after the discovery of much wanted Taliban Osama Bin Laden from within
the territory of Pakistan.

Importance of South Asia for U.S.

South Asia has always proven to be a golden bird not only for U.S. but also for
other major hegemonic powers in the world. The importance of this region of the
world has immensely increased in the 21st century due to various reasons including
the rapid growth of Indian economy, the strengthening of Islamic militant groups
in the Muslim and neighboring countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the
prolonged strategic rivalry between the prominent country of the region India and
China. According to the writer as well as an expert for the South Asian studies,
South Asia has a population of about 1.6 billion people (Kugelman B. M., 2016).
and this has almost made up the 27 percent of the world’s total human population.
Hence, this large number of population can never be ignored and is definitely
important no matter what the circumstances actually are. If we continue counting
the factors, one big factor behind the fact why U.S. craves for the region is that it
is the region from where China and Russia have direct land linkages.(Mehmood,
2017). During the cold war, U.S. used the land of Afghanistan to combat
communism and to destruct the Soviet Union. And the U.S. troops are still present

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 Muhammad Owais
there as they got a new reason to fight against and that was ‘the Taliban’ that
proved to be a major threat to America’s hegemony. In both the events, America
has blindly supported the Afghan government economically, politically and
diplomatically just to be successful and they actually got success. Afghanistan,
therefore has served as a buffer zone to America.
Furthermore, India is another golden bird for U.S. these days because India is
going to be most populous country of the world by the coming years and its
economy is increasing almost 7 to 9 percent by every passing year. Moreover,
India is the only country that will help America make the growing kingdom of
China to fall. It seems that the region has become bipolar, having alliance of
America and India at one side, and alliance of Pakistan and China on the other
side. (George, 2017). India is wanted by America to balance China’s influence and
also due to the Indian Ocean. India is Indian Ocean box seat and has the most
control over it. Indian Ocean has pathways to oil rich countries of the Gulf and is a
large source of energy production. This the reason why Obama focused on the aim
of implanting almost 60 percent of the naval force in the region. The One Belt and
One Road initiative taken by China is also threatening for America and India, and
they both do not want it to get done because it would cast the influence of China
on Asia, Europe and Africa through a complex network of land pathways and
could make it a hegemonic power stronger than America.(Chaudhry, 2014). And
if it happens so, India would be in loss because it does not have good terms with
China but China has good terms with India’s biggest rival Pakistan. OBOR and
CPEC like projects are developing the region particularly Pakistan which is not
being digested by both America and India.

Trump’s policy towards India

India and U.S. have been enjoying friendly bilateral relations since the era of
Donald Trump has started. In New Delhi, at the Raisina Dialogue, Trump
addressed the crowd and his address showed a sunshine of optimism to Indians.
(SHARMA, 2019). His negative and skeptical approach towards Pakistan, a harsh
and rough policy towards the Great China, thoughts on the making of Indo-Pacific
open and free, the offers he made for the transfer of technology from America to
India, along with the offers for the economic, diplomatic and political
strengthening of India made diplomats and general public clear regarding U.S.
policy towards India that was going to be soft and friendly. The fact behind this
soft corner for India is that Trump has the biggest aim of balancing the hegemonic
power of China in the region of Indo-Pacific.(JAISHANKAR, 2017). India, its
government and public also wants this. According to a research, 75 percent of
Indians think that U.S. is the most important country that could help and go along
well with India in different global issues. Favorable language of Trump for New
Delhi is also depicted when he gave a consistent description of region of ‘Indo-
Pacific’ rather than ‘Asia-Pacific’and Pacific Command was given another name
of INDOPACOM. This all was according to the wishes of Indian government and

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 U.S. President Trump Policies towards South Asia with Particular Reference to
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan
public, and it did not end here. Trump immensely criticized China’s One Belt One
Road project (JAMES, 2016). which mirrored concerns of India and both
explained their wish to have strong security alliances with countries like Australia,
Japan, and Vietnam. Teaming up of four ‘like-minded’ democracies named India,
U.S., Australia and Japan happened when they came up with the idea of the revival
of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue shortly termed as QUAD. (Panagariya, 2017).
This alliance would have its direct influence and impact on the waterways of
Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the seas of China that are much disputed named
as South and East China Seas. This revival of dialogue was made at Manila, when
Trump was on the official visit to South and East Asia. Official diplomats from the
four countries gathered there and decided that they all would stand against the
rising power of China and would try to suppress it by hook or by crook. This was a
tactic and strategy of Donald Trump to have its influence in the region after
stepping back from the trade agreement named as Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade
Agreement and the abandoning of the practice of former president Barack
Obama’s pivot to Asia.(Shehriyar, 2018).The strengthening of U.S. India ties made
ways for the technology development in India and therefore the administration of
Trump government made India capable of buying defense technology that didn’t
need license. This happened under the Strategic Trade Authorization 1 and it gave
the status of third Asian country having this technology after South Korea and
Japan. The annual summoning of U.S. Indian CEO Forum was also ensured in the
visit by Trump through which defense training of Indian military would be done
by the army of America. (Jayoti, 2018). This would be an annual tri service
defense activity that will allow Indian army to be more efficient and learn new
fighting skills. Moreover, many combined projects for Industrial security were also
launched. Meanwhile, the withdrawal of aid worth 300 million dollars given by
U.S. administration to Pakistan due to Trump’s claim that Pakistan was still
providing shelter to terrorists also was very favorable in India’s regard.
(Panagariya, PAK-U.S. RELATIONS, 2017). Historical background tells us that
India was at very good terms with Russia and Pakistan was at good terms with
America. But then, America’s blessings started getting showered on India as
American administration saw their benefit in strengthening the ties with India.
Donald Trump’s Strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia (SASA) made clear the
Indian role would be broader in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s role would be lesser.
(Beckham, 2018). This will prove beneficial for India because India do not want
the radical Islam to be spread all over the region and hence want to destroy the
Islamists of the region which are predominantly residing in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
If we see the image through the prism of practicality, everything comes with a
cost, especially when it’s the case of having strong bonding with America. In
return of all the favors, India has to break ties with Iran which is a great supplier
for crude oil and gas to India as America has imposed sanctions on Iran and those

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countries who have ties with Iran. Furthermore, a waiver for CAATSA sanctions is
seek by government of Modi, for which otherwise an air defense system named S-
400 could have bought by India from Russia. India’s eligibility is being observed
by America for Generalized System of Preferences Program, which decides what
sort of products would enter premises of America. (Fontaine, 2019). But overall
analysis made is that BJP and other parties feel over the moon by the friendship of
India and the U.S. and same sentiments are being observed from American side.

Trump’s policy towards Afghanistan

Afghanistan is an Islamic country member of America in its efforts for

diminishing the militancy in the region and in fact in the whole world. It is a well-
known fact that the development of Afghanistan in terms of politics and
governance as well as economic development is directly proportion to the amount
of pressure the American administration could put on the Taliban regime to stop
their activities. (Hussain, 2018). Donald Trump’s policy for South Asia and
Afghanistan was whole-heartedly welcomed by the Afghan nation and government
because after the policy announcement, they were of the idea that through this kind
of support of America in which the military of Afghanistan would get modernize,
Afghanistan would get able to win the long before started war against the Taliban
and there would be peaceful resolution of the matter. Trump allowed his
commanders to implant whatever number of American forces they want to get
implanted in the areas of Afghanistan.
Along with this flexibility, he proposed the idea of ‘reconcile or die’ to the
Taliban and other Islamic militant groups through which he conveyed that if those
groups would not sit with Americans and Afghan government on the table of
negotiation and would not go for the idea of peaceful settlement, they would have
to die and their all hubs and habitats would be destroyed simply by drone attacks.
(huang, 2019). Trump showed his intentions that Afghan government should be
able to stabilize its country without external support of any kind, and should be
capable of protecting the nation. If we talk on the practical level, Trump’s
administration really has fulfilled its promises made and has taken the bold step of
getting on the negotiation table with the Taliban and Haqqani Network members.
(Qadeer, 2018). This great initiative of peace talks compelled the Taliban to have a
look upon their policy of stubbornness and made them realize that it is them who
want to stay in the war and not the other way round. President of Afghanistan,
Ashraf Ghani joined hands with U.S. and offered a peace treaty to the Taliban and
later on presented a ceasefire which was to be signed in between the government
and the Taliban. This all peace movement was carried out by the Afghan peace
marchers and the officials of the Conference for peace by the Ulema. This was
positively reciprocated by the Taliban, and hence an example was set that
everything is possible if handed peacefully and ethically. This practice and
momentum is needed to be followed by all countries so that there could be no war,

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 U.S. President Trump Policies towards South Asia with Particular Reference to
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan
and the needs of the people of country and international community including
regional actors could be fulfilled.
Some analysts claim that this policy of Trump for Afghanistan is a mere tactic
to silently cut America off from the 17 years old war, and that too for his personal
means, till the next upcoming elections. According to this analysis, Trump in the
disguise of a peace making diplomat, is up to giving Afghanistan into the hands of
Taliban.(marston, 2018). They say that Afghan government acts as ‘puppet’ for
the American government. The Taliban could have made a deal with Trump
Administration that they would not attack U.S. and in return U.S. has to take its
troops back. Though, Trump suggested in his speech that the number of troops
should be increased and there should be gradual removal of U.S. troops from the
Afghan land, his actual aim is the instant removal of the troop creating a vacancy
for the Taliban to take over Afghanistan. This was the same strategy implemented
by Henry Kissinger in the case of Vietnam. (Andrews, 2018). Trump seems to be
following Kissinger’s footsteps. In 2017, Donald Trump made the statement that
number of forces is to be increased in Afghanistan and in 2018, he suddenly made
the statement that 14,000 American troops should be shrink to the half and troops
should be called back from Syria too. The reason given by Trump for this uplift
from his commitment was that Russia was destroyed by the acts we are making
right now. Russia had lost all its power and divided by becoming Russia from
USSR. This lame reason left every historian, geographer, and regional expert into
shock. This might be due to the reason that America could have got to level of low
budget.
Before the 2018 statement, the one-year performance of Trump and its
consequences came out to be not so effective but in fact, the consequences were
worse. The Taliban became more stubborn by increase of U.S. troops and they
seized the Afghan provinces named as Ghazni and Farah. The lifting of Obama’s
era air bombing restriction resulted in the killing of innocent Afghan people by air
striking and drones attack. NATO forces were increased in number in Obama’s era
to fight in Afghanistan but in the era of Trump, the troops from countries who
have signed NATO became lesser in number as Italy and Turkey decreased the
number of their troops. This all had made one thing clear that Trump’s views are
outrageous and in real world, he is not being able to fulfil what he has promised to.

Trump’s policy towards Pakistan

Pakistan is a country which has always faced ebbs and flows in regard to its terms
with the America. At one time, Pakistan has enjoyed the status of most-allied
country with the U.S. and at other times, the bond has got so weaken that it almost
turned out to be a bond of hostility. But most of the times, America had
manipulated Pakistan in spite of the fact that Pakistan had worked for America’s
interest by side-cornering its own national interests. Pakistan, since its
independence, have been proving itself to be a good friend to America. Initially,

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 Muhammad Owais
Pakistan signed CENTO and SEATO treaties with America for its security
concerns and it proved beneficial for America in containing communism. (Javed,
2015)Later on, Pakistan became a mediator for making the terms better between
America and China. After the attack of 9/11, Pakistan’s support to America in war
against terrorism was a hallmark of their strong bilateral bond. In 2003, Pakistan
was given a special status of non-NATO ally of America. But this friendship has
started getting to face downfall since when the 45 th president of America Donald
Trump has taken the charge. Trump is so outrageous that whenever he makes a
statement regarding Pakistan, the relationship gets few steps backwards.
The South Asia’s environment is getting changed day by day, by the rapid
economic growth of India and Pakistan’s growth and development as Pakistan is
now the prominent hub of economic corridor initiated by China which is
connecting Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Russia, and Iran. But
Trump and his administration along with India are strictly opposing the China’s
OBOR initiative and as Pakistan is its partner, U.S. had warned Islamabad and
asked to consider its foreign policy especially policy for Washington. (Ayres,
2018)
Trump has clearly blamed Pakistan for the instability in the region and has
never avoided to talk trash about Pakistan because now, to stronger the ties with
Pakistan is not in America’s favor anymore. The U.S. neither has patience nor has
resources for supporting Pakistan. Trump has declared his policy of ‘America
First’ in his election campaign as well as during the announcement of National
Security Strategy. Instead of bonding with Pakistan, U.S. administration and
Trump find it more beneficial to bond with India as its economic growth and
power on Indian Ocean is going to give huge advantage to America, especially in
balancing China’s rising influence in the region. Besides all this, the fact that
rivalry between forever enemies India and Pakistan is likely to be increased by the
acts and statements of Trump.(Fontaine, 2019)
Pakistan used to enjoy many favors made by America for being its non-NATO
ally. Pakistan got almost 18.8-billion-dollar economic aid and 14.4-billion-dollar
military aid under the shadow of this non-NATO ally status. This status was given
under Control Act of Arms Export and it was declared by the U.S. State
Department that Pakistan is not subjected to suspension of military assistance and
this was done under the Act of Protection of members of American Service. It was
committed by the American government that Pakistan would be provided with all
kinds of technology and weapon with priority delivery. Later on, this all got
changed as soon as Trump came. In fact, Pakistan had to face the suspension of aid
of worth $300 million.(George, 2017) This is the reason why Pakistan’s people do
not like Trump and they have a sense of distrust and insecurity regarding that
person. The reason to this might also be that nation of Pakistan have understood
the game that America is manipulative country that uses other states as an object,
like in time of need American administration strengthen bonds with that particular
state, and as soon as America gets its aim fulfilled, it throws the respective country
and commitment and promises made earlier to the country into the trash box.
252 Journal of Indian Studies
 U.S. President Trump Policies towards South Asia with Particular Reference to
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan
Conclusion

This research paper concluded that in near future, for the stability of the region,
Pakistan along with other states of region like Afghanistan and India have to make
compromises if they really want to see a prosperous South Asia. Pakistan should
take out ways to resolve the issue of Durand Line. Countries of the region should
understand that role of China is very much vital for the settlement of the matters of
Afghanistan. America should too make efforts to bring peace not only in
Afghanistan but also in the whole region because it is the one of the highly
populated regions of the world, and therefore, is vital for the economic and social
growth of whole world. But these suggestions would not make any difference if
they would not get serious consideration by the countries of the region. The
strategy of Trump, right now, is directly or indirectly bifurcating the region.
Bipolar region could never workout as it didn’t during the cold war and eventually
the results were drastic. Pro Indian policy is the true depiction that America for its
own national interest, would never let the peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue
happen. America should stop manipulating Pakistan and all other countries for its
own personal or national interest. Strategic convergence should be the base for any
new relationship between two states in the future and peace should be ensured in
every part of the region.

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Biographical Note

Muhammad Owais is an Assistant Professor at University of Management and

Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.
______________________________

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