South Asia in 2020: Future Strategic Balances and Alliances

Whither South Asia? This is not a question that has troubled many Americans, although the number has been growing over the last few years. The nuclear weapons tests of 1998 and the Kargil crisis of 1999 helped to increase that number. But as this is written in June 2002, perhaps more Americans than ever are concerned about the future of South Asia. This, of course, is a result of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 (9/11 as it is often referred to) and the resulting war on terrorism that has been conducted in part through Pakistan. It is also a result of the December 13, 2001, attack on the Indian Parliament by Islamic militants out of Kashmir, and the escalation of tensions that followed between India and Pakistan. By June 2002, these two nuclear-armed neighbors seemed on the threshold of war.