Arming without Aiming: India's Military Modernization

by Stephen Philip Cohen

1965 war, political unrest, and economic decline in the late 1960s stalled military rearmament. The United States stopped military supplies to both India and Pakistan; the Soviet Union, to forestall escalation in the regional conflict, mediated a cease-fire agreement in Tashkent. The war itself was short and ended in a draw. The Indian Army committed most of its forces in the early days of the armored confrontation with Pakistan, taking the risk of not leaving any reserves. Had Pakistani forces managed to break through to the Beas River on the Grand Trunk Road, Delhi would have been a day away. In the event, Pakistan's first armored division disintegrated at Khem Karan in the Battle of Assal Uttar. India did not press the advantage and soon after suffered its own debacle in the Battle of Chawinda. When the Soviets offered mediation, New Delhi accepted, and India's strategic condition remained unchanged. Nehru's death in 1964 began a political battle for succession that lasted until 1969, and split the Indian National Congress—the movement that had won the country's independence and held uninterrupted power as the preeminent political party for two decades. Concomitant with the political unrest, the Indian economy nosedived due to growing international and domestic pressures. This period saw the large-scale delivery of American food supplies under Public Law 480, which both saved millions of Indian lives and made Indian leaders bitterly aware of their dependency on the Unit...