Bangladesh-US Relations: From Cooperation to Partnership

’Bangladesh – Us relations: from cooperation to partnership’ is an effort to analyze the evolution and development of political, economic, military, technological and cultural relations between Bangladesh and the US with special emphasis on the post liberal period. It throws light on the US South Asia policy, and the western leaning of East Pakistan’s leadership before the inception of Bangladesh as an independent nation. The US, on the other hand, had given top priority to its geo-strategic interest during the liberation war of Bangladesh, and had thus sided with West Pakistan to fulfill its global calculation. Bangladesh had to face various socio-economic and security challenges soon after its independence, and needed massive aid and assistance, which, India and USSR, the two countries that were instrumental in its formation, could not provide. It was, thus forced to explore other avenues, and in the process found a suitable ally, the US, which readily stepped in due to its own geo-strategic interest in the region. The relationship between the two countries has since strengthened despite having seen some lows at times. During the Cold War period, aid and assistance provided by the US were political geo-strategic and also humanitarian. The geo-economic considerations have mostly guided the US policy in the later period, especially after the collapse of USSR. Both the countries have given more emphasis on trade and investment rather than on aid and assistance. The crucial aid and assistance provided by the US all these years and, in return; the support given by Bangladesh to the US concerns in various international fora has greatly helped in cementing the bond between the two countries. The book contains numerous fresh inputs that will be useful for all the students of the subject, academicians and policy makers.