Meanwhile, supported by aid from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam strengthened its air defenses. By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was approaching 500,000, and U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded.
The seven independent countries of the region are India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri. Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives. India has been the central core of this region both physically and. culturally. The other countries form the peripheral region that has been influenced historically. and politically by the core for many centuries. South Asia is located at the southern extremity of.
It is a land of fabulous wealth and of extreme poverty. The subcontinent has a small elite of very wealthy people and a large and growing middle class. South Asia has almost one half of the worlds poor even though it has only 20% of the worlds population. In 1997 the Pakistan-based Human Development Center called the subcontinent the poorest, the most illiterate, the most malnourished, and the least gender-sensitive--indeed the most deprived--region of the world.