The euphoria is dying somewhat quickly in certain parts of our neighbourhood. The photogenic 44th president of America already managed to ruffle feathers in Islamabad, where officials were not too happy at being pulled up by Barack Obama on his first day in office.
Deliver first on the 'war against tyerror', and then get more non-military aid, was the clear message from Washington. Not only are there no free lunches, but one has to wash the dishes too, it would appear. Pakistan immediately retaliated by saying it would "review options" about continuing support to the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, if the Obama administration did not adopt a "positive" attitude. This is perhaps a thinly veiled threat to stop cooperation with the US, but Islamabad can ill-afford to do so in light of, among other things, the US proposal to triple non-military aid to Pakistan in the near future. The legislation, scripted by new Vice-President Joseph Biden, authorises USD 7.5 billion as aid for Pakistan in the next five years, for health and infrastructure; simultaneously, it tightens the screws on reciprocal collaboration. And Islamabad's reluctance – or more likely, inability – to stamp out militancy within its borders will be read as collaboration with the very forces that the 'war on terror' seeks to crush.
New Delhi has reason to be pleased with this rap on the knuckles so quickly delivered to Islamabad, as well as with the description of Afghanistan and Pakistan as the 'central front' in the 'war on terror'. But it is doubtless wondering if it has already missed the bus, as the Obama-Biden foreign policy "agenda document" does not mention India as one of America's major allies. "Obama and Biden will forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea," says the agenda document. "They will maintain strong ties with allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia; work to build an infrastructure with countries in East Asia that can promote stability and prosperity; and work to ensure that China plays by international rules." The lack of attention to the Big Brother of Southasia is, however, not necessarily a sign that the US wishes to evolve independent foreign-policy initiatives toward the 'smaller' nation states of Southasia.
Of course, the swift move, on his first day in office, to suspend military tribunals for 120 days, as a first step to closing down the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention centre, will be welcomed across the Muslim world. But for governments in the region that were optimistic of the post-George W Bush era, anxiously waiting to see the much-mentioned change, Obama's post-election utterances and actions on Afghanistan/Pakistan might not have been entirely soothing. This inevitably made analysts refer back to Obama's speeches during the last year of campaigning, where he came across as a hawk on Southasian (especially Pakistan-Afghanistan) affairs, in an attempt to justify the proposed pullback from Iraq.