South Asian leaders understand nuclear war risks: US report
The leaders of India_ Pakistan and China feel the risks and costs of an armed conflict between nuclear nations but growing nationalism in the region could ignite a war_ warns a new US report.
The United States Institute of Peace_ a federal institution with a mandate from Congress_ made this observation in the final report of a study by its senior scholars released Current week.
The report reviews the challenges posed by changing strategic circumstances in Southern Asia_ assesses a range of United States policy options_ and presents a set of priority recommendations for US policymakers.
It urges the United States to devote renewed attention to nuclear threat reduction measures_ starting with the establishment of a 'dedicated and secure India-Pakistan nuclear hotline_ supported by bilateral agreements and practices'.
Policymakers in US should urge both India and China to 'enter strategic stability talks with each other' and they should also 'raise the idea of a new transregional forum on regional and international strategic stability that would include the so- called Nuclear- 7_ United States_ United Kingdom_ China_ France_ Russia_ India_ and Pakistan.
This forum should discuss and strengthen stabilising nuclear norms_ says the report while urging Washington to deepen its defence cooperation with India 'in ways that contribute to India s capacity for territorial defence'.
The report envisages that stronger defence relations between the United States and India could be a 'stabilizing conventional and nuclear deterrent without exacerbating the regional weapons race or increasing the likelihood of nuclear crises.'
Stressing the need to strengthen national borders_ the report argues 'Deterrence logic dictates that Islamabad_ New Delhi and Beijing perceive enormous costs to looking weak along their land borders.'
It points out that the 2019 terror attack in occupied Kashmir sparked retaliatory Indian airstrikes on Pakistan_ followed by Pakistani reprisals into India.
Also_ deadly hand-to-hand combat between Indian and Chinese border patrols in 2020 prompted both Countries to send tanks and artillery into close contact on high mountain plateaus.
To more manage crises between the nuclear-armed states of Southern Asia_ the report urges the United States to prepare its policymakers for complex nuclear crisis diplomacy in the region by conducting gaming exercises within the intelligence community.
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