Sharp focus on the sideline

In reforming the economy in the 90s,which provided the basis for New Delhis rise in the international system,and restructuring the nations foreign policy,especially its relations with the United States during the last few years,Dr Singh can rightly claim the credit for letting India walk tall and on two legs.

Indias very presence at the London summit is a reflection of the nations expanding weight in global economic affairs and its newfound capacity to influence international outcomes. Yet the Indian elite,unlike its Chinese counterpart,has been reluctant to break out of the Third World mindset. In London,Dr Singh can begin Indias forceful intervention in the debate on the global financial crisis and signal the nations readiness to bear its share of international burden.

In all probability,London is probably the last diplomatic assignment for Dr Singh under the present political dispensation. But it offers the venue for the PMs first political engagement with US President Barack Obama and a chance to ensure that the Indo-US ties survive and prosper after the Bush years.

Dr Singhs meeting with Obama also comes at a moment when our north-western neighbourhood has become the principal threat to international peace and security. In London,Dr Singh and Obama have the occasion to bless the rapid expansion of Indo-US political cooperation to cover Afghanistan and Pakistan and the elimination of international terrorism from across our north-western frontiers.

If the global financial crisis and the politics of the Af-Pak region are expected to dominate the discourse in London this week,Indias pursuit of its long-term interests in both these areas must be informed by one important geopolitical reality. American failure on either of these fronts will have enduring negative consequences for India. It should not be difficult to see that the only beneficiaries of American failure would be Indias regional adversaries both state and non-state actors.

Washingtons setbacks in the Af-Pak region would lead to a rapid deterioration of New Delhis security environment. An American defeat in Afghanistan would embolden the Pakistan army and its associates to intensify their not so covert war against India. The Mumbai aggression last November might then look like a minor blip in the war to destabilise India.

Once we recognise Indias high stakes in Dr. Singhs London visit,it is not difficult to visualise the three big ideas that should inform his talking points in London.

First,it is important for the PM to publicly affirm Indias deep interest in the success of Obamas attempt to put the US economy back on the rails. Unlike many countries which are relishing Americas current financial troubles and want to take advantage of it,India must underline the Indian perception that American economic recovery is indeed the key to global prosperity.

Dr Singh can translate this sentiment into both long-term and short-term initiatives. Over the long-term,there are natural complementarities between the India and the US in devising a sustainable recovery plan that jointly invests in new green energy technologies,reduces healthcare costs and builds cooperative ventures in higher education and research.

In the short term,an early implementation of the Indo-US nuclear agreement would facilitate significant American energy exports to India. New Delhi must also offer Obama a strategic opening of the Indian market to the US defence industry,space and other high technology industries that can contribute to the creation of American jobs,stimulate the US economy and deepen the Indo-US strategic partnership.

Second,on the regional issues that are expected to figure prominently in his conversation with Obama,Dr Singh should point to the shared Indian and American interests in the detoxification of the Af-Pak region.

While there is glossing over the real tactical differences between New Delhi and Washington on how best to stabilise the badlands next door,Dr Singh must reaffirm New Delhis strong political commitment to make it easier for Islamabad to focus on the Durand Line rather than promote terror and aggression against India.

That India was close to a settlement on Kashmir a couple of years ago,eager to end the militarisation of the India-Pakistan border,and promote trilateral economic integration with Afghanistan are facts that Obama should hear first hand from Dr Singh. Obama needs to see that if his administration can get the Pakistan army to disband the anti-India terror groups nurtured over the last couple of decades,India will not waste a moment in clinching an enduring political reconciliation with Pakistan.

The third big theme is about the nature of geopolitics that has begun to bind the two countries. Bush was willing to rewrite Washingtons policy towards New Delhi by arguing that a strong India,equipped with nuclear weapons and modern conventional arsenal,is in Americas interest. It is now Dr Singhs turn to tell Obama that a strong America is in Indias interest and that New Delhi would do all it can to accelerate the US economic recovery and help it de-tox the troubled territories between the Indus and Hindu Kush.

The writer is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies,Nanyang Technological University,Singapore

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