Draw India closer, not push it away, ex-US top officials urge Trump administration

Washington, Sep 4 (IANS) Former top officials in the US's previous Joe Biden administration have called for deepening ties with India, terming New Delhi as "one of the United States’ most important global partners".

Writing in the Foreign Affairs Magazine, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell have warned that the current tensions risk "a split that would be difficult to mend".

The article, titled "The Case for a US Alliance With India", advises the Trump administration to draw "New Delhi closer, not push it away".

The ex-officials believed that the relationship had "remained vulnerable to misunderstandings, missteps, and missed opportunities because of lingering distrust and misaligned expectations".

They also noted that given the current trajectory, "the United States could end up driving India directly into its adversaries’ arms".

In a rebuke to the Trump administration, the former officials said that "Washington must also refrain from hyphenating its relations with India and Pakistan: there should be no India-Pakistan policy".

"US diplomacy in recent years has been heavily weighted toward New Delhi for a reason. The United States has enduring interests in Pakistan in combating terrorism and limiting nuclear and missile proliferation, but these pale in significance to Washington’s multifaceted and consequential interests regarding India’s future," they added.

Both Sullivan and Campbell emphasised that "US President Donald Trump’s theatrics are often the prelude to dealmaking".

Despite the setbacks, they proposed a 10-year "strategic alliance" between the two countries.

"They must create a firmer and more ambitious foundation: a strategic alliance between the United States and India based on a series of mutual commitments regarding technology, defence, supply chains, intelligence, and global problem solving. An alliance, in other words, not based on a traditional mutual defence pact," they wrote.

The former senior officials rejected the perception that a "strategic alliance is not mutually exclusive with strategic autonomy".

"India and the United States are both proud and independent countries. Alliances are about alignment and common purpose—not about sacrificing sovereignty," they noted.

In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Campbell also said that he’s “most concerned about India.”

"I think all of us who played a role in building this relationship are in shock and concerned by what we've seen in terms of the substantial degradation in relations in just a couple of weeks, and (Indian PM Narendra) Modi is sending a very clear message to the United States: I have other options," he added.

--IANS

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