The United States’ long-standing strategic efforts in India have not delivered, and Washington now has to rethink its politics in South Asia by investing in a balanced partnership with Pakistan that could help stabilize the region and even bring the US and China closer-Argues former Pakistani national security adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf.
In the play entitled “Why America was to bet on Pakistan”, published in the prestigious magazine for foreign affairs, Dr. Yusuf that the United States has been wrong reading regional dynamics by overestimating India’s strategic value and underestimating Pakistan’s ability to act as a balancing power. He urges Washington to course correct and warns that continued excessive compliance with New Delhi risks further instability in an already fleeting region.
“The US investment in India has not paid off. Instead of becoming a steadfast partner to the counter -roads of China, India has pursued an independent and often divergent foreign policy,” Yusuf wrote. “Meanwhile, despite his financial and security challenges, Pakistan is still a critical regional player who can help the US’s calibration of his approach to South Asia.”
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He noted that despite heavy US investments – ranging from civilian nuclear offers to exceptions to Russian arms purchases – India continues to resist adapting to American interests.
“Washington has guest New Delhi with great economic, defense and technology offerings, while insisting that it is in US national security interests to facilitate India’s emergence, as what US officials call a” net provider of security “in the wider area of Indian Ocean,” Yusuf wrote.
Dr. Moeed Yusuf noticed India’s neutral attitude towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its growing ties with both Moscow and Beijing, noting that the Modi Government’s foreign policy has driven more of a desire for “strategic autonomy” than a clear overall with the US-led global order-a-development that warned, warned,
“Despite all these efforts, US decision makers should be alarmed by the results … For example, India took a roughly neutral position on Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has participated in efforts from some non-Western countries to change away from trading in US dollars. These divergences are not related.
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Yusuf, which served as NSA from 2021 to 2022, identifies three defective assumptions that have defined American politics to the region in the last two decades: The belief that India would unconditionally rise as a counterbalance to China; that Pakistan would of course adapt to Beijing; And that Pakistan because of his record in Afghanistan was an unreliable prolonged partner.
He claims that these assumptions caused Washington to isolate Pakistan and enables India’s aggressive attitude in the region. This included the restriction of military cooperation with Pakistan, stopping financial support, and enabled India to hit bilateral tensions as internal affairs outside us regarding.
Yusuf noted that Washington’s decisions were nicely involved in India’s goal of keeping Pakistan weak and isolated. This characterized New Delhi to introduce a more muscular attitude, escalating military strikes in Pakistani territory and elaborate on regional gap.
According to Yusuf, India’s increasingly assertive acts – including targeted strikes inside Pakistan and a growing rhetoric for hostility – only intensified Islamabad’s slope towards Beijing. Pakistan, he now points out 80% of his new arms from China, a dramatic shift from its once-western dependent military.
Despite deteriorating ties with the United States in recent years, Yusuf highlights a shift in Washington’s attitude under President Donald Trump, who made Overtures of Islamabad’s military leadership and mediated a temporary ceasefire between India and Pakistan in 2025.
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This thaw, Yusuf says, reflects a growing realization in Washington that its India-First Policy has limited usability. He argues that Pakistan could be instrumental in creating a regional equilibrium-not only between India and Pakistan-but also facilitating a more constructive US China dynamics.
Yusuf wrote that Pakistan’s story as a bridge between Washington and Beijing – most especially during Henry Kissinger’s secret visit in 1971 in China – shows it again can play “Regional Fixer ‘role”.
He notes that Pakistan’s 2022 national security policy explicitly rejects geopolitical block policy and promotes financial connection and regional cooperation. This vision, Yusuf claims, is in line with US interests in promoting stability, open trade and fighting fighting terrorism.
Former NSA emphasizes that Pakistan does not want to choose between China and the United States – nor should it be forced to.
“Pakistan’s economy depends on both powers. Trying to push it away from China would fight back. Instead, Washington had to cooperate with Islamabad to create an environment of pragmatic coexistence,” he said.
He suggests that the United States could reduce tension over China’s investments in Pakistan-Isarean China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-by starting parallel or complementary infrastructure projects in the region. Yusuf suggests that shared investments in regional connection can transform Pakistan into a commercial intersection that benefits us, Chinese and even Indian interests.
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In addition, collaboration in areas such as terrorism and resource extraction – especially in critical mineral zones such as Reko DIQ – exceeds opportunities for collaboration that serve both US strategic goals and Pakistan’s development needs.
Yusuf warns that a continuing us is tilting against India could aggravate the risk of full -scale war in South Asia, especially as India remains fixed on its rivalry with Pakistan. He emphasizes that New Delhi’s confrontation policy has distracted it from its strategic competition with China and could exceed its military capabilities, especially in the light of a potential two-front conflict.
He also emphasizes that improving relationship with Pakistan could open doors to India to expand its access to Afghanistan and Central Asia – the benefits that are currently lost due to a hostile attitude.
Yusuf warned that unless the United States calls on the India-Pakistan dialog to resolve long-term disputes-from terrorism to Kashmir to the Water Division-Will Region remains locked in a dangerous cycle.
When the United States seeks to adapt to a multipolar world, Yusuf calls for a “realistic reset” in its South Asia strategy – one who does not treat India as the only partner and recognizes Pakistan’s indispensable role in ensuring regional peace.
“Only a balanced American approach in pragmatism and shared interest-cans ensuring long-term stability in South Asia and protecting American influence in the region,” he concluded, warning that Washington’s continued India-centric political risk not only promoted Pakistan, but continued his strategic foothold throughout South Asia.
