"Shooting for a Century: The India-Pakistan Conundrum" (2013) by Stephen Philip Cohen.
Amazon Description for "Shooting for a Century":
The rivalry between India and Pakistan has proven to be one of the world's most intractable international conflicts, ever since 1947 when the British botched their departure from the South Asian subcontinent. And the enmity is likely to continue for another thirty-five years, reaching the century mark. This has critical implications for both countries and the rest of the world. Renowned South Asia expert Stephen P. Cohen explains why he expects this rivalry to continue in this first comprehensive survey of the deep historical, cultural, and strategic differences that underpin the hostility.
In recent years the stakes have increased as India and Pakistan have each acquired a hundred or more nuclear weapons, blundered into several serious crises, and become victims of terrorism, some of it from across their borders. America is puzzled by the problem of dealing with a rising India and a struggling Pakistan, and Cohen offers a fresh approach for U.S. policy in dealing with these two powers.
Wikipedia:
Stephen Philip Cohen is an American political scientist. He is a prominent expert on Pakistan, India, and South Asian security. He is a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution and an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has authored, co-authored or edited at least 12 books, has been named as one of America's 500 most influential people in foreign affairs, and is a fixture on radio and television talk shows.Video Title: South Asian Militaries Perpetuate India-Pakistan Rivalry. Source: Brookings Institution. Date Published: June 18, 2013. Description:
Stephen P. Cohen: India and Pakistan share a long, wary and complex history. In prior years, militaries in South Asia united and helped govern countries; today their purpose seem to be to perpetuate a conflict between these two countries.Quote from the video:
"I came to this subject fifty years ago exactly, when I was talking to British and Indian Army Generals in London over a period of about a year, among other people. And what occurred to me just this morning that in British India as well as Mughal India the purpose of the military was to unite, and to help govern, and help economic growth in South Asia. The purpose of the military in South Asia now seems to be to perpetuate a conflict between India and Pakistan. While the Pakistanis may be more culpable in this regard, the Indian military has played its role." - Stephen P. Cohen.
Video Title: Walk The Talk with Stephen Philip Cohen. Source: NDTV. Date Published: August 31, 2013. Description:
Walk The Talk: In this episode, eminent political scientist Stephen Philip Cohen talks about the strategic affairs between India an Pakistan and why Pakistan is such an important location for Washington, both geographically and politically. He also talks about how the Indian economy is better than that of Pakistan's. Mr Cohen also stresses on the fact that the Indian Army is one of the best in the business.Quote from the video:
"In the case of Pakistan, we always believed that the Pakistanis were our true ally and they would tell us this. And the Pakistani argument was that America has betrayed Pakistan many, many times, there was some truth to that, but clearly it's an exaggerated story. But I think the war in Afghanistan, with American soldiers in Afghanistan, has put pay to that argument. I regularly teach American officers in various summer schools and so forth, and about seven years ago they started telling me 'Professor, I served in Afghanistan for about a year, and the people who were shooting at me were coming from Pakistan, they're our ally, why were they doing this?' And I would tell them Pakistan is playing a double game, they're supporting the Americans in Afghanistan, but they're also supporting the Taliban who are fighting us in Afghanistan. And that begin, I think, a slow shift in American opinion about Pakistan and that spread from the military to the conservatives in Congress, and ironically some Republicans are more anti-Pakistan than the Democrats, it used to be the other way around." - Stephen P. Cohen.
Video Title: "India has an inferiority complex vis a vis Pakistan" | Writer and the Politics: Stephen P Cohen. Source: tehelkatv. Date Published: August 26, 2013. Description:
The World Affairs Council of America has named Stephen P Cohen as one of America's 500 most influential people in foreign policy. He tells Kunal Majumder why the stakeholders in India and Pakistan don't want the conflict to end.Quote from the video:
"The first time I went to Pakistan was in 1977. A Pakistani General said to me 'were brothers' but India is the big brother, and the big brother has a responsibility of making the first concessions to the little brother. Well, India has a psychology where it's not the big brother, it feels insecure and threatened by Pakistan, and by China, and by the Americans at one point also. So India has an inferiority complex vis a vis Pakistan. So, in a sense, it's difficult for India to make those kinds of concessions." - Stephen P. Cohen.
