For over 25 years, successive U.S. administrations, from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden, have courted India as America’s indispensable security bulwark in South Asia, a linchpin in the grand strategy to contain China’s inexorable rise. The logic was simple: the world’s largest democracy and the world’s largest economy are natural allies, destined to work together to counter an authoritarian China’s threat to the democratic world.

Consequently, India did all it could to facilitate a complete transformation of its relationship with the U.S. after the Cold War, resulting in joint military exercises, intelligence-sharing pacts, and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with the U.S., Japan, and Australia, underscoring this alignment.

Yet, in the wake of India’s Operation Sindoor in May 2025, the Indo-U.S. relationship appears poised for a seismic reset. Is it a clash of personal egos between Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, or a calculated pivot in cold geopolitical strategy? The evidence points to the latter: a sobering recognition that the unipolar world is indeed dead, and propping up India as a proxy risks repeating the very mistakes that birthed China’s ascendancy.

Under Operation Sindoor, India targeted nine sites in Pakistan, which it alleged had links to terrorist outfits, using precision munitions like SCALP missiles, HAMMER bombs, and loitering drones.

In a swift response, Pakistan claimed to have downed six Indian jets, including three French-made Rafales, using the indigenously produced JF-17s in cooperation with China and Chinese J-10C fighters, both armed with PL-15 beyond-visual-range missiles, assisted by Chinese radars, satellites, and reconnaissance systems without crossing borders.

The U.S. establishment observed the entire conflict firsthand through its........

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