Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent

As chairman of the US Senate Arms Control Subcommittee, Larry Pressler advocated the now-famous Pressler Amendment, enforced in 1990. Aid and military sales to Pakistan were blocked, including a consignment of F-16 fighter aircraft, changing forever the tenor of the United States relationships with Pakistan and India, and making Pressler a temporary hero throughout India and a devil in Pakistan.

This book reveals what went on behind the scenes in the years when the Pressler Amendment was in force, through a cast of characters that include presidents, prime ministers, senators and generals in the US, India and Pakistan. It exposes the enormous power wielded by the military-industrial complex, which the author terms “The Octopus”, and how it controls significant aspects of the American presence in the Indian subcontinent.

Senator Pressler’s book deserves serious consideration by anyone trying to understand how foreign policy is made.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former deputy chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India

This book is a fascinating account… and also a recent history of US-India relations. While the proposed economic sanctions in the Pressler Amendment were never fully tested, as it was sabotaged by forces within the Pentagon, its lessons as a template for economic sanctions remain with us.

Kaushik Basu, former chief economic adviser, Government of India

In telling the tragic story of the Pressler Amendment, which would have prevented Pakistan from taking the nuclear weapons route, Larry Pressler also explains the forces at work that first circumvented the Amendment… and later rolled it back.

Vikram Sood, former head, Research and Analysis Wing

Senator Pressler’s new book is an insight into the influence of lobbying on foreign policy and the difficulty in developing a sound foreign policy.

Senator Harry Reid, former Democratic majority leader, US Senate

This book provides an eyewitness account of the virtually unchecked power of law firms and lobbying firms usurping the US State Department’s and Congress’s role in making foreign policy, of the unseen money flow that lubricates the entire process, and the real-world damage caused by it all.

Danielle Brian, executive director, Project On Government Oversight (www.pogo.org)