DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Gen. William J. Begert, Pacific Air Forces commander, and Indian Air Marshal Satish Govind Inamdar discussed the North Pacific map before a press conference yesterday at Hickam Air Force Base. A weeklong series of meetings between Air Force leaders and Indian officials will focus on ways the countries can work together to hold military training and exercises.

U.S., India find
closer ties following
Sept. 11 terror

A visiting air marshal credits
the resumption of weapons sales

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks broke the barrier that stood between the United States and India dating back to the Cold War.

Air Marshal Satish Govind Inamdar, the Indian vice chief of air staff, said yesterday the events of Sept. 11 brought into "sharp focus" the long-standing problem of terrorism.

"To fight terrorism couldn't have meant more to us since, because we have been involved with it for almost 15 years," Inamdar said.

The senior Indian official said he doesn't believe Washington's relationship with its longtime rival Pakistan will have any effect. "We don't see that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan should lead to us losing our connectivity to the U.S. Air Force at all," he said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947, two over the divided Himalayan province of Kashmir. India also fought a war with China in 1962.

Nor does Inamdar believe the decision this week allowing India to purchase high-tech surveillance radar from the United States means that the equipment will only be used to fight Islamic militants in the disputed province of Kashmir.

Inamdar said the radar equipment that will be purchased is not "Kashmir specific."

"They are air space management specific. Air space management is a much larger issue than Kashmir per se."

India has traditionally bought most of its weapons from Moscow, but in October Washington lifted sanctions slapped against India after its testing of nuclear explosive devices in May 1998.

Inamdar said he believes his country will buy more weapons from the United States.

He and other senior Indian officials began a weeklong series of meetings at Hickam Air Force Base with Gen. William J. Begert, Pacific Air Forces commander, and other Air Force leaders.

The conference follows similar meetings earlier this month between the armies and navies of the U.S. and India and signals a new level of military cooperation between the two countries.

The last meeting between the heads of the two countries' air forces was held in Nevada in 1997.

Begert said the talks this week will center on ways the countries plan to train and hold military exercises together.

"This will be a re-establishment of a function that is very important for both of our air forces," Begert said.

"It's about being able to train together, to exercise together and to look at our procedures that we use together. We have a lot that we can learn from them and we hope that we have something to offer the Indian air force as well that will improve both of our air forces collectively."

During the Cold War, India, although nonaligned, depended politically and militarily on the Soviet Union. At the same time, the United States leaned toward Pakistan, causing a rift between the two countries.

Terrorist attacks on India's Parliament on Dec. 13 were blamed on Pakistan by New Delhi and India mobilized its military and reinforced its borders with Pakistan.