COLD WAR POLITICS OF SUPERPOWERS IN SOUTH ASIA Abstract

South Asia occupied an intermediate position in the hierarchy of the Soviet
foreign policy. No South Asian nation possessed the indigenous power to
threaten the Soviet Union and the ability of certain countries to ally
themselves with a major power hostile to Moscow periodically created
apprehension among Soviet leaders. Initially, Soviet leaders concentrated
attention on Europe because they saw Europe as having anti-capitalist
revolutionary potential and later they perceived the United States as the most
serious threats to Russian security. 73 The rising powers of Japan and China
were also great concern to the Soviet policy makers. The Soviet leaders were
aware that they could not achieve their cherished ambition of being recognized
as a global power without a strong position in the region along their southern
border from the eastern Mediterranean through the Indian subcontinent. It was
therefore natural for the Soviet Union to compete with the United States and
preserve the Asian status quo and it was committed to maintain its
predominant interest in Asia, particularly in South Asia.
The Soviet Union was generally perceived as the dominant external power in
South Asia. Its influence and presence in the region had proved to be more
effective and durable than those of its two rivals, the United States and China.
Armed conflict between the forces of national liberation and those of
imperialism had paved the way for Soviet penetration of the South, Southwest
and East Asia. Thus, in fact, the Soviet became involved in South Asian
affairs in the late 1950s as an outcome of its anti-capitalist approach and
reactionary intrigues directed against the suppressed people of the
subcontinent. Initially, Moscow’s most important purpose was to ensure that
the subcontinent would not be utilized by any power against any country. Its
principal means was to be India’s security guarantor and even to stand ready
to be the neutral mediator of intra-regional disputes. However, the situation
changed radically when the United States introduced their doctrine of
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