question_answer

Describe any three operations (military actions) launched by the US which proved and established its supremacy as a Hard Power.

Or

Describe any three points of conflict between India and Pakistan.

Answer:

The US power lies in the overwhelming superiority of its Military Power but even better than the absolute capabilities of the US is the fact that no other power in the world today can remotely match them. We can cite the three major military operations by US which indicate its supremacy as a Hard Power.

(1) In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, rapidly occupying every oil field. After a series of diplomatic attempts failed at convincing Iraq to quit its aggression, the UN mandated the liberation of Kuwait by force. This operation was known as "Operation Desert Storm'. The US President George H. W. Bush hailed the emergency and UN coalition, where 75 per cent forces were from US liberated Kuwait and Iraqi forces were quickly defeated. This is also known as first Gulf War. Thereafter, US invasion of Iraq showed the supremacy which finally ended in hanging of the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussain.

(2) During the time of Bill Clinton US was busy in other various issues but again in 1999, in response to Yugoslavian action against the predominantly Albanian population in the province of Kosovo, the US military action took place. The air forces of the NATO countries led by the US bombarded targets around Yugoslavia for well over two months, forcing the downfall of Yugoslavian government of Slobodan Milosevic and stationing of NATO forces in KOSOVO.

(3) Another significant US military action during Clinton time was in response to the bombing of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salam Tanzania in 1998. These bombing was attributed to Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation, within a few days of this bombing, President Clinton ordered ?Operation Infinite Reach?, a series of cruise missile strikes on Al-Qaeda Terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan. When terrorist through 19 hijackers attacked Twin Tower in US on 11 September, 2.001 (hence forth referred as 9/11), the response of US was swift and ferocious. US military attacked mainly Al-Qaeda and Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Or

When Britishers ended their rule in undivided India and handed over the independence in August 1947, undivided India was divided in four states/countries, i.e., India, West Pakistan, East Pakistan and Kashmir. The conflict began immediately thereafter when Pakistan started claiming that Kashmir should be a part of Pakistan.

The detail of major three conflicts are as below:

(1) Soon after the partition, the two countries got embroiled in a conflict over the fate of Kashmir. The Pakistani government claimed that Kashmir belonged to them whereas, the Indian government claimed that the same belonged to them. Wars between India and Pakistan in 1947-48 and 1965 failed to settle the matter. The 1947-48 war resulted in the division of Kashmir province into Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir divided by the Line of control (LOC). Pakistan started supporting the militants and giving training to them, and started attacks in groups and killed many civilians.

(2) Second issue of conflict was the control of the all Siachen glacier and over acquisition of arms. The arms race between two countries assumed a new character with both states, acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver such arms against each other.

(3) India and Pakistan also have problems over the sharing of river waters. Until 1960, they were tucked in a fierce argument over the use of the rivers of Indus basin.

However, in 1960, with the help of World Bank, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Water Treaty.