ABSTRACT
South Asia constitutes a subsystem of powers with two major nations that are actually within South Asia, and three others, China, the US and the USSR, that are extra-regional. The central dilemma of US policy in South Asia since 1947 has been to deal with the competing claims of the two principal states of this region, India and Pakistan. US involvement in India started during World War. Before this, both official and unofficial contacts with India were minimal. To American observers of foreign policy, the emergence of communist China underscored the importance of India’s democratic experiment. There has been a strong American viewpoint that emphasized the identity of US and Indian foreign policy interests because of their commitments to democratic values, basic human rights, and willingness to cooperate on important bilateral or international issues. A map of the perceptions can be derived both from US policy statements regarding the region and trends in America’s regional relations.
