International   

India matters more than Pakistan, says U.S. official

Washington: The United States has said that broad-based partnerships with India are critical and more important than those with Pakistan. This is because New Delhi is growing as a potential power with global influence.

“The U.S.-India strategic potential is very, very profound,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and South East Asia, James Clad, told online journalists and bloggers during a conference call from the Pentagon.

While Pakistan continues to search for Osama bin Laden and helps in waging a global war on terrorism, the U.S.-Indian relationship is more important in the long run, Mr. Clad says. “India simply must, as a long-term consideration, matter more for us than Pakistan,” Mr. Clad has been quoted as saying in the American Forces Press Services.

“India is seen as a potential power with global reach,” Mr. Clad says. “It has been slow in coming — I think it will be slow in coming in the future — but it is steady. The trend lines are unmistakable.”

According to him, India is on a major course to ramp up its military infrastructure with a multi-billion budget ready to purchase, among other equipment, 126 multi-role combat aircraft. “It is the largest external-announced defence procurement budget in the world. And people are obviously interested in this,” he said. As many as 52 U.S. defence corporations, including Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Ratheon, Honeywell and General Electric have set up offices in India.

Referring to the recent visit by aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to Chennai, Mr. Clad says the visit was an enormous success and greeted with great interest by the local people. The U.S. Navy recently refurbished its former USS Trenton and presented it as a gift to the Indian Navy. “This is a substantial vessel which has been very well received in Indian naval circles,” he says, noting the larger aspects of the bilateral relationship.

“You hit a golf ball on the Bangalore golf course, and that ball, unless you’re careful, is going to go right through a window of IBM, which is right next to Infosys, which is an Indian firm staffed by Indian-Americans who are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange. So it’s a much bigger relationship.”

“The relationship with India is now more comprehensive in trade, information and technology and movement of its peoples,” he is quoted as saying. There are 2 million Indian-Americans living in the United States.

The U.S. should embrace the opportunity to assist and advise the country. “It is about maintaining a type of equilibrium, about accepting India’s rise into a type of maturity and power and prowess. We are coming into something that is naturally there. It is like a seat which is already at the table, and we are sliding into it.” — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Lakra earns Olympics quota berth
India matters more than Pakistan, says U.S. official
Iran ready to resume talks with U.S.
Colombo revokes censorship
Solar wing damaged
Striking back at fear
Yousuf fit to tour India
90 Indians facing prosecution in Dubai

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu