COLD WAR POLITICS OF SUPERPOWERS IN SOUTH ASIA Abstract

Pakistan. The war played the role of midwife at the birth of Bangladesh. It
also played an essential role in India’s victory over Pakistan, which was no
longer able to mount a credible challenge to India. While the Soviets-
Americans and Chinese rivals in the first test of the new “anti-Soviet axis,”
had both lined up on the side of the clear loser, the Soviet Union stood firmly
with India and it emerged unchallenged as the top ranking external power in
South Asia. A Soviet diplomat at the United Nations exulted: “This is the first
time in history that the United States and China have been defeated
together.” 100
Moreover, in the late 1970s the Soviet objectives in South Asia were relatively
based on Indo-Soviet collaboration to counter the Sino-US and Pakistan
alignment and to minimize Chinese influence in the region. In this respect,
Howard Wriggins characterized the US policy towards South Asia from 1965
to 1979 as one of “minimum concern....perhaps encapsulated in the
proposition’ they can do little good, but also little harm.” 101 Thus, with the
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979 the US was forced to recognize the
region’s strategic importance and establish relations with Pakistan in order to
contain communism. China also cooperated with the United States to counter
Soviet adventurism. Moreover, the period of 1970-79 proved to be
unsuccessful for the Soviet diplomacy in terms of geopolitical perspective.
Events in the countries of South Asia were demonstrating to the Soviet Union
that backsliding was always a danger for the young fragile regimes. Thus, the
Soviet Union’s dream of countering the US and Chinese influence in the
region collapsed with its own demise and disintegration.
Sino-Soviet Confrontation
In the late 1960s, the Soviet and Chinese foreign policy interests came into
conflict and their world views began to diverge rapidly. China developed a
more radical policy against the imperialist West and the United States.
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