Qamar-ul Huda
The last three years of U.S. foreign policy in South Asia have not been very favorable, with three revolutions and three major partner leaders fleeing to save their lives from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and now Bangladesh. Less than a year after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled to the UAE in August 2021, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, too, narrowly escaped protesters demanding democratic reforms, accountability for national funds, and massive socio-economic reforms.
Now Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s fifteen-year reign ended on August 5, 2024; she fled to New Delhi, meeting with Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval on arrival. The State Department was cautiously balancing the bilateral relationship despite Hasina’s record of arresting opposition leaders, torturing dissidents, holding fraudulent elections, and mismanaging funds to support her party, the Awami League (AW). Earlier this year, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu visited Bangladesh and called for free and fair elections, an increased economic partnership, and an overall “reset” in U.S.-Bangladesh relations by exploring tangible ways to integrate the country into the U.S. Indo-Pacific policy.
But now, amid the “Bangla-Spring” revolution, the key questions are: As an interim caretaker government takes shape with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus at the helm, what are the challenges to U.S. geopolitical interests? More importantly, how will the new Bangladesh impact the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy?
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