Gen. Ayub Khan’s ‘ Friends Not Masters ‘ : How Saudi Arabia and Pakistan’s Experience With USA Becomes Relevant To India
Rajiv Upadhyay 
No one could have put it better than General Ayub Khan !
History has strange ways of repeating itself. Just look at the Asian continent . Saudi Arabia’s petro dollar accord with Dr Kissinger stabilised a declining US economy for fifty years . Yet an intemperate speech of President Biden over Jamal Khagoshi’s assassination and threatening of the crown prince Salman , destroyed the US relations for ever to the extent that Saudi is wanting to join BRICS now. USA’s becoming self sufficient in oil contributed to this increased US belligerence with its erstwhile key allies including Europe.
Pakistan was the ultimate darling of USA during Kissinger’s secret China visit, Afghan wars etc to the extent that it allowed Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear program to succeed thus threatening the whole world for ever as witnessed by its opening of Nuclear Super Market in Iraq, Libya, Iran etc. Yet it dumped Pakistan when its usefulness was over. Before that it was the most trusted ally of Pakistan against Russia although it refused to fight for USA during Korean war..
President Biden is mentally fixated in 1980s . He seem to genuinely hate India . Not posting US Ambassador for three years was a beginning. The way the new ambassador is speaking against our ‘ Strategic Non Autonomy’, visiting Abdullahs before Kashmir elections etc, one wishes that the post was vacant. He has totally forgotten the Talbot- Jaswant Singh foundational talks. Jack Sullivan , NSA , is still raking up the Nijjar issue with Canada in Khagoshi style with same likely disastrous consequences to Indo US relations as Saudi Arabia. India will not compromise on its national security. Ousting of Sheikh Hasina’s government Bangladesh in Arab Spring fashion, over St Martin Islands and creation of a Christian country in India’s north east, is yet another demonstration of its absolute unreliability as a friend . Actually it is a ploy with Balkanising and controlling India as the real objective. USA wants India to be a client state like Pakistan which will never happen. Delay in supplying GE engine for Tejas MK2 has made India harshly realise its ‘ औकात” ie real worth vis a vis USA . It is clear that we are not even an ally but only a very junior current partner in our transactional relationship with USA vis a vis China. It may take ten years for US to realise that India as an ally like France is the best it can hope from Indo USA friendship talks .
In spite of this now well known animosity , India and USA are forced to pretend as friends with Quad and such acts of apparent friendship, till the China issue is settled . The next Chinese regime after Xi Jinping may strike a compromise over trade and free shipping in South China sea .
After that the next country to be demolished will certainly be India !
India too knows it . At present it is helpless . It must grow three times to a 15 trillion dollar economy with well balanced exports including some critical exports to West, before it can start acting totally independently. It needs a non blackmailable PM like Yogi to keep it united against all foreign pressures. But our democracy is now at its worst. Yogi strengths and weaknesses are alike PM Modi .
With so many predators and Neo Colonisers roaming free , we need the next generation of Ajit Doval, Dr Jai Shankar , Manmohan Singh along with a deft consensus builder like Atal Bihari Vajpayee to stay as an independent till 2047 and beyond.
Country has them but is it possible to locate them and place them in power in the present sycophant ridden bureaucracy of pygmies ?
This is an existential challenge for India .
