India has been under tremendous pressure for the past fortnight to accede to the US request over troops, as the latter is interested in sending as many of its soldiers as possible back home from Iraq as early as possible. The US and British proposal for India to send a division-level force is believed to have been made at the highest levels in government, both in New Delhi and in Washington, two weeks ago. It is also said to have come up in the talks between Mishra and US officials in Washington last week.

Before the Riyadh blasts, India was almost ready to participate in a US-led stabilization force for Iraq, according to news emanating from Poland, the one country other than Albania that has so far shown readiness to send its troops to Iraq. India has participated in humanitarian campaigns before, and given the chaotic law-and-order situation in Iraq, the contemplated force could be considered a humanitarian gesture for the people of Iraq. India's participation in the United Nations-led relief effort in Iraq was already under way, with the government organizing a field hospital to be sent there.

... The Indian government is split down the middle on the issue for these reasons. One, the request was being made not by a legitimate Iraqi government, but by an "occupying power". Two, India had opposed the invasion of Iraq, and now sending troops to work under US command without a UN resolution could be construed as supporting the invasion itself.

Indians have, of course, not suddenly become supportive of anti-American terrorism. And there has been pro forma condemnation of terrorism in some circles as well. But what should perhaps worry Washington is that more and more people are beginning to see bin Laden as a legitimate opponent of the United States. Indeed, Indians are not alone in thinking that if there were free and fair elections in Saudi Arabia today, bin Laden would win hands down. [Emphasis mine.]

Even more worrisome, perhaps, are reports in the Indian media, including the government-controlled TV channel Doordarshan, that despite the discovery of mass graves in Iraq, at least some people are beginning to miss Saddam Hussein, and even wanting him to come back, merely weeks after his fall. As one American observer remarked, if there is real democracy in Iraq, the government that gets elected is bound to be anti-American.

There is disenchantment with the United States at every level in India. ... In the wake of September 11, India had offered its full-fledged support in fighting Islamic terrorism, whose hub, it was thought, lay in Pakistan. After Riyadh, it may start dealing with the United States in the same way other countries, Pakistan, for instance, or now Syria and Iran, do - appearing to cooperate but in reality merely trying to avoid the rain of daisy-cutters.