US-India-Pakistan cyber cooperation will be limited

Significance

Washington, Delhi and Islamabad all view cybersecurity as a critical challenge, and the US administration wants to work multilaterally to address shared global threats. However, the lack of precedent for trilateral cooperation, deep US-Pakistan and India-Pakistan mistrust, and US preference for cyber cooperation only with top allies impede collaboration.

Impacts

• US-India-Pakistan cyber cooperation may offer a new template for three-way collaboration on other threats such as climate change.
• Any India-Pakistan cooperation on cybersecurity could spur additional bilateral collaboration in other areas.
• Such cooperation would boost efforts to develop global norms to tackle cybersecurity.