Indo-US friendship: PM Modi’s visit seals it for the next generation

(From previous issue…)
It would be unfair to suggest that Prime Minister Modi remained engaged with the world outside and did not think enough of solving these domestic issues. This visit to the US was as much about geopolitical strategies as it was for taking India to a new high in terms of economic growth and the welfare of the people.
The joint statement issued at the end of Prime Minister Modi’s epoch-making visit to the US specifically touched on different spheres of Indo-US cooperation in the future.
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden acknowledged that the statement represented the most expansive and comprehensive vision for progress ‘in the history of our bilateral relationship’.
The statement, among other things, covered the growing bilateral education partnership, active collaboration across the full expanse of health sectors and further action to facilitate the movement of professional and skilled workers, students, investors and business travellers.
It announced that India and the US would take specific steps towards developing bilateral cooperation for strengthening economic relationships including trade ties. The two leaders reaffirmed that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is an important pillar of collective efforts to build resilience in supply chains, clean energy, effective tax administration and capacity-building measures. Apart from propelling global growth, the two countries detailed the measures required for a deepening strategic convergence. President Biden welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s Lifestyle for Environment initiative(LiFE) as a successful national model and resolved to work together with him to implement the G20 High-Level Principles on Lifestyles for Sustainable Development. This is a huge compliment to the Prime Minister’s vision of translating lifestyle contributions to the amelioration of global issues of climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss.
The two leaders expressed deep concern over the conflict in Ukraine, mourned the tragic human situation created by it and called for greater efforts to mitigate the consequences of the war in the developing world in particular. They called for respect for international law, principles of the UN charter and territorial integrity and sovereignty. They even mentioned post-conflict reconstruction of Ukraine – an idea first mooted by India.
The statement significantly did not mention Russia and this in a way legitimised India’s stand on the conflict. The US and India held that multilateral systems reflected contemporary realities better and recommitted themselves to empowering Quad as a partnership for the global good.
The statement made out that the Quad to be hosted in India in 2024, would be an opportunity for consolidating cooperation for an open and secure Indo- Pacific by working in partnership with regional platforms like the Indian Ocean Rim Association, Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and ASEAN. India has thus built a geopolitical counter to deal with any Chinese aggressiveness off the Indian Ocean through a partnership with the US.
The US visit has given a transformational lift to India as a world player in both global growth and security.
The most important part of the joint statement from the point of view of India’s strategic and national security concerns is the clear denunciation of global terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, by both US and India. Demanding concerted action against all UN-listed terror groups including Al Qaeda, ISIS, LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen, the two leaders condemned cross-border terrorism and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control was used for launching terror action.
President Biden joined the Indian Prime Minister in demanding strong action against those behind 26/11 and the attack on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.
Biden administration has finally discovered the true character of the ‘Deep State’ in Pakistan and got over notions of ‘good terrorists vs bad terrorists’ it once harboured to draw a line between Islamic radicals who attacked the US-led West and the India-specific terror outfits controlled by Pak ISI that made no hostile move against the US. American administration also realised that Pakistan pretended to be a mediator in talks at Doha only with the intention of getting the Taliban Emirate reinstalled in Kabul just like what it had done in 1996 in the years following the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan.
The visit has effectively highlighted the threat posed by the Sino-Pak axis to the entire democratic world. While diplomacy continues to contribute to the evolution of foreign policy, today’s uncertain geopolitics has made the role of India’s National Security Advisor particularly important as a prime determinant of international relations.
The visit of Prime Minister Modi to the US has proved this – the stand clearly shared by him with President Biden on the threat of Islamic radicalisation was extremely important. Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Egypt on his return has met a strategic requirement of India in dealing with this threat.
Egypt still carrying the legacy of the Shiite Fatimid empire practices moderate Islam of the kind that had facilitated the advent of Sufism. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE with their new equation with Israel in I2U2, are the nodal points in the Muslim world that Prime Minister Modi on the advice of the NSA is tackling to the great advantage of India.
D.C. PATHAK
(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views expressed are personal)