CHENNAI: Would 50 years of mutual suspicion fade away with the recent steps towards cooperation by India and the United States? "Trust is a critical factor," Francine R. Frankel, founding director, Centre for the Advanced Study of India, told experts at the Centre for Security Analysis here on Tuesday.

The mindset of policy makers in both the countries was undergoing a change, she noted and said that as the United States - India relationship shifts gears; the "central issue" was if the two countries would be able to trust each other. "Their ability to be strategic partners has not been tested," she said.

Dr. Frankel, an expert on South Asia, China, political economy and nuclear proliferation issues, speaking on `Indo-US relationship: emerging perceptions,' explained the reasons for the mistrust, spanning from the early sixties.

From the U.S. point of view, though India wanted the U.S. air force in the sixties to fly sorties over Indian territory that the Chinese held, there was nothing tangible that India offered in return. Later, India wanted food aid but would not issue a statement supporting the Vietnam campaign of the U.S. and India did not condemn the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In the mid eighties, many Indian policymakers and politicians kept making statements that the Central Intelligence Agency was out to destroy the country. "Pakistan was the reliable partner. India was viewed with suspicion... it was virtually impossible to establish a modicum of trust," she said.

After the 1996 policy review by the Clinton administration, the Pokhran nuclear explosions came as a shock and caught the U.S. unawares.

The relationship again had to go into cold storage. After the Bush administration's policy review, India recognised that the U.S.-led war on terror served its interests too since it mounted pressure on militant groups in Pakistan. India saw this as an opening for an understanding with the Bush administration.

She reminded that both India and the U.S. had important interests in the recent Indo-U.S. agreement. The U.S. looked at India as a balancing power in Asia.

"Without the [Indo-U.S.] agreement, India will have to consider being a junior partner to China in Asia," she said.

Lt. Gen. Raghavan (retd.), of the Centre for Security Analysis, said that after the break up of the Soviet Union, India had to rapidly reposition itself.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party Government and the later Congress Government had done this well in line with the new geo-strategic realities, he said.

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