Opinion Revisiting America

Besides the urgent priorities on the pandemic front, Jaishankar’s main objective was to flesh out an ambitious agenda for the bilateral relationship in the next few years. There is no doubt that the Quad — or the Quadrilateral Framework involving Australia and Japan along with India and the US — has become an important new element of the deepening ties between Delhi and Washington. Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s strong political commitment to the Quad that emerged out of bilateral defence cooperation and is now poised to shape the Indo-Pacific regional security order. The virtual summit between the leaders of the four countries in March expanded the remit of the Quad to include a regional vaccine initiative, the building of resilient supply chains, and high technology cooperation. The high-level Quad conversation will continue at an in-person summit later in the year. Jaishankar’s talks in Washington also covered the unfolding regional crises in Afghanistan, where the Taliban refuses to negotiate peace, and Myanmar, where the army is digging in its heels after the February coup. If the Indo-Pacific provides a new regional anchor to India-US relations, Delhi and Washington are also eager to expand their cooperation on a range of global issues, including health security, climate change and trade. En route to Washington, Jaishankar met the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in New York and conveyed India’s determination to make its current tenure as a non-permanent member in the UNSC a consequential one. All indications are that Delhi is finally bringing greater synergy between its bilateral diplomacy in Washington and multilateralism in New York.