The US is the world’s most powerful country. Its pre-eminence remains unchallenged for now. However, it suffers from a curious case of amnesia: it is long on everything but short on historical memory. The State Department’s statement on Kashmir is an example. If the department’s spokesperson is to be believed America has washed its hands of the Kashmir dispute. He has said that it is up to India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute.

This indicates that the Obama administration either does not understand or has deliberately obscured the nature of the dispute. The dispute over Kashmir is not a dispute over a piece of territory. It is about the will and aspirations of a people to determine their future. It is about freedom and liberty.

These two ideas are, according to the US itself, the country’s foundational principles. But the US is forsaking these for a narrow interest, a power-based foreign policy and diplomacy.