‘Realism’ has acquired a pejorative meaning in Washington these days amidst President Barack Obama’s reluctance to challenge Tehran’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters. In New Delhi, though, Obama’s drift towards foreign policy moderation is welcome, especially on Kashmir.

In an interview to Pakistan’s ‘Dawn' television broadcast today, Obama won’t take the bait on Indo-Pak relations. He declined to either lecture India on the urgency of resuming the dialogue with Pakistan or offer to mediate the Kashmir dispute.

Recall that throughout the presidential campaign during 2008 and immediately after his election, Obama had repeatedly emphasised the importance of New Delhi and Islamabad resolving the Kashmir question.

For Obama, it seemed, Kashmir was not an abstract question but a political priority. He argued that pacifying Afghanistan was at the top of his national security agenda.

To win in Kabul, Obama had declared, it was necessary to get the full cooperation of Islamabad, which was possible only if there was Indo-Pak reconciliation.

Obama’s Kashmir thesis had generated deep concern in New Delhi, which feared a return to old bilateral tensions with Washington of the kind seen in the first term of President Bill Clinton (1993-97).

Since Obama’s election, New Delhi has been painfully aware of Islamabad’s growing importance for Washington. As the Pak Army mounted a major military offensive against the Islamic extremists in the Swat region and prepared to confront Baitullah Mehsud, the notorious leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, it was difficult not to see a rapid warming of US-Pak relations under Obama.

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