With National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon in Washington this week,the consultations between the two sides on the deliverables during President Barack Obamas visit to India in November are at a decisive stage.
Senior administration officials who spoke to this writer last week in Washington underlined the importance that Obama attaches to his India visit and his hopes to make it a defining moment in bilateral relations.
Obama has apparently ordered his officials to think ambitiously about his November visit to India. The question is whether there is enough boldness left in Delhi,which had thought so creatively about the partnership with the United States during the first term of the UPA government.
Whether it is in addressing the challenges of an increasingly dysfunctional Pakistani state,coping with the vigorous assertion of Chinese power,reorganising the Asian institutions,reforming the United Nations or securing the global commons such as the high seas,outer space and the cyber domain,Washington now sees cooperation with India as critical.
Washington is not underestimating the complexity of the challenges facing India and the US or the tactical differences about reaching agreed destinations on a number of issue areas. What it is calling for is a bilateral commitment to think strategically about the future of Asia and the world.
When Obama was on his way to becoming the US president two years ago,many in India,including this columnist,expressed concern that the return of Democrats to power in the White House might rupture the rapid progress in Indo-US relations during the tenure of George W. Bush.
The dominant section of Delhis foreign policy establishment was convinced that the election of the Republican candidate,Senator John McCain,might be more sensitive to Indias strategic aspirations than Obama.
The fears of the Indian establishment were reinforced when Obama talked about the appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir,emphasised the importance of Washingtons collaboration with China in the management of regional and global issues,and seemed to downgrade Indias place in the American scheme of things.
Since then Obamas approach to India has come a long way. He invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be the first state guest at the White House last November. Although many had seen Dr Singhs visit as rich in symbolism rather than substance,the visit provided a basis for continuity in bilateral relations.
Despite the fact that many in his administration had reservations about the historic civil nuclear initiative,Obama chose to complete its implementation. Under Obamas orders,the administration worked hard to wrap up the pending agreement on arrangements and procedures for the reprocessing of spent fuel from the reactors to be supplied by the US well ahead of time. It is only the third such agreement the US had negotiated with other countries.
On the question of the security issues relating to the subcontinent,Obama chose not to include Jammu and Kashmir in the mandate of the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan that he appointed in the very first week of his tenure in the White House.
The presidents decision to order a surge in the American military presence in Afghanistan meant the US dependence on Pakistan had significantly increased. Obama,however,resisted pressures from within and from Pakistan and major US allies to seek Indian concessions on Kashmir in order to make the Af-Pak strategy more effective.
In refusing to say anything that might embarrass India during the current turmoil in Kashmir and emphasising that it is Indias internal issue,the administration has given much needed international space for Delhi to manage the deteriorating situation.
The president also stepped up counter-terrorism cooperation with India that began in the wake of the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Washingtons decision to give India access to David Coleman Headley,who is in American custody and has been accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks,has been a major signal of the US commitment to deepen counter-terror cooperation.
During the PMs visit last November,Obama dispelled Indias fears about a possible Sino-American condominium in Asia and underlined the importance of the Indian role in stabilising the great continent that has now emerged as the fulcrum of global politics.
While Obama moved forward on ties with India,it is Delhi that has lost some of the energy and focus in advancing the relations with the US. The Indian Parliament dropped the ball on what was virtually the last piece in implementing the historic civil nuclear initiative.
Instead of decisively ending three-and-a-half decades of Indias atomic isolation,Parliament produced an awful piece of legislation on nuclear liability that might extend it for a few more years.
At a time when China was signalling its determination to break the international rules to provide Pakistan with nuclear reactors,India has made it hard for itself to build a serious nuclear power generation programme by imposing a costly burden on the foreign and domestic suppliers of nuclear equipment.
When Chinas military power is growing and radiating across our Himalayan borders to the north and is presenting itself in the seas to the south,India has dragged its feet on its own military modernisation and has been reluctant to take advantage of the US offer to provide the full range of advanced military technology to India.
One part of NSA Menons talks in Washington this week is about hard negotiations to finalise the details of the give and get that precedes any high-level engagement between major nations. The other,equally important,part is about imparting a genuine strategic content to the bilateral relationship.
The guiding principle must necessarily be the recognition that India and the US need each other as never before to pursue their own enlightened self-interests in a rapidly changing Asia and the world.
raja.mohan@expressindia.com
