Impact of Indian Lobby on Pak-US Relations: Assessment of Counterterrorism Cooperation in Post 9/11 Era
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Abstract
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collaborated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. In the post-9/11 era, Indian foreign policymakers, intelligence operatives, and government officials are working on a single agenda to prove Pakistan uses proxies to bleed India. American officials under the Indian lobby’s influence raised suspicions over Islamabad’s role in overall counterterrorism operations. The post-Abbottabad operation era proved to be a menace as the Pakistani state is continuously viewed with suspicion for providing safe havens to key Al Qaeda members. The ISI’s sacrifices to kill, capture, and extradite Al Qaeda operatives in collaboration with CIA counterterrorism teams are viewed with suspicion. In short, the Indian lobby in the US has achieved the Indian objective to de-hyphenate Pakistan from the US and suspend military assistance and equipment. Qualitative methods helped authors acquire and analyze data in pursuit of accessing Indian statecraft’s use of the Indian lobby in America. This academic paper aims to gain a deep understanding of Indian foreign policy objectives i.e., to isolate Islamabad in the international community, suspend American financial assistance, stop the supply of advanced American weapons to Pakistan, halt economic aid and, if possible, declare Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism.
Keywords
CIA, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI, Counterterrorism, Indian Lobby
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