April 13 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had an elaborate state visit to the United States in November last year, and yet he saw the need for a bilateral conversation with President Barack Obama on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit he has gone to Washington to attend. This is a sign
of a healthy relationship, although irritants tend to surface in the relationship of most countries with the United States. The reason is that America is constantly having to juggle too many balls, especially in dealing with neighbours in a region that do not get on too well with one another, as in the India-Pakistan case. In matters of worldwide significance, too, many countries, including India, have trouble with the US since on many issues the perspectives of a superpower differ with those of almost any other country. This is on account of the fact that for a country like America all politics are macro, aggregated politics. Nevertheless, the meeting went off nicely. In Washington, both sides described the interaction as “positive and constructive”. This suggests an absence of acrimony and contentiousness and future plans to sail together on a range of issues of mutual concern as well as those possessing a global dimension. In New Delhi a US embassy press release noted that the two leaders had “vowed” to continue to “strengthen their robust relationship” and looked forward to the upcoming India-US strategic dialogue in June as the next step in that process. That, of course, will be an occasion to spruce up bilateral ties and find the right orientation for India to engage the US on broad international matters.
It is fairly clear that issues concerning our region drove Dr Singh’s 50-minute dialogue with Mr Obama on Sunday night in Washington, and the situation in Afghanistan came into special focus. The US embassy release made it a point to state that President Obama welcomed the humanitarian and development assistance that India continues to provide Afghanistan. This at least makes clear — at least for now — that Washington is not about to endorse the Pakistani agenda of either eliminating India’s role and presence in Afghanistan or minimising it to the level of the notional. Equally, however, this formulation suggests that America does not foresee for India any role other than providing development assistance to Afghanistan. This might disappoint the advocates of overt military deployment in Afghanistan. In all fairness, however, aiming for a military presence in that country when the US and Nato forces are engaged, and complex political scenarios are up for discussion among multiple actors, does not speak of far-sightedness. This is the heart of the matter, however. The Indian side has sought to convey to the media that a purpose of the meeting was for the Prime Minister to convey to the US leader that India would define its own role in Afghanistan and the region, and would not be guided by prompting from any quarter. India has apparently also made it plain to the US that Pakistan’s constant grumbling about Indian presence circumscribing its own legitimate interests in Kabul — a viewpoint which finds sympathy in some Western quarters — impresses few in New Delhi. If these points have indeed been made while preserving the integrity of India’s bilateral relations with the US, this country has come a long way in its recent diplomatic practice. The upshot of the above is that India would disregard and resist attempts from any quarter to make adjustments in its Kashmir policy so that Pakistan may be placated and American interests advanced in Kabul.
