Touch of glass: India, US relationship finds its mojo

Face to face, president Obama seems even more unflappable, cerebral, and dispassionate than he appears on television.  Ironically, we can say the same about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is no surprise then that Messrs. Obama and Singh got along famously. India needn’t have apprehensions regarding the drift of the US-India partnership in Obama’s watch, say analysts weighing in on the visit.

The four-day visit ran its course with no uncomfortable moments despite the fact that US and India failed to tie up a pact designed to ensure that New Delhi won’t reprocess American-sold nuclear fuel into weapons-grade material. Both sides remained optimistic that it would get done. Obama unequivocally committed his administration to the full implementation of the nuclear deal, describing it as an opportunity to “increase American exports and create jobs.”

Early this year, Indians were taken aback by references in General Stanley McChrystal’s report describing India’s role in Afghanistan as provocative toward Pakistan. By dint of history, the US and India find themselves supporting mutual goals in Afghanistan, including the development of a democratic government that will nix the Taliban from regaining power. India brimmed with pleasure that the US “appreciated” India’s role in Afghanistan and “agreed to enhance their respective efforts”, whereas Pakistan clamoured for a rollback of Indian presence.

“President Obama’s expression of gratitude to India for its assistance to the Afghan people was thus important as it tacitly acknowledges that he does not view Afghanistan through a Pakistani lens,” said Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow for South Asia in the Heritage Foundation.

The Obama-Manmohan joint statement also echoes the Indian charge about Pakistani doublespeak on terrorism. It keeps the pressure on Islamabad to eliminate terrorist safe havens. Analysts weighed in on the joint statement to pronounce Manmohan’s visit a “creditable success.”

Obama also made amends to the omission of India in his speech delivered en route to China by saying India is a rising global power. The visit was useful as Singh also used his alone time with the US president to raise India’s concerns about Chinese border incursions. Though Washington is following a Sino-centric Asia policy, the US is keeping tabs on these developments and it is unlikely to stand by if Beijing were to further inflame border tensions.

“Obama offers a mature relationship, though it is not sexy enough for the daydreamers fixated on India’s “great power status”. What he offers is a forward-looking relationship that is sustainable, if only the Delhi elites had the requisite self-confidence regarding their country’s strengths in an increasingly polycentric world order,” MK Bhadrakumar, a former diplomat, said.

The power meetings by day and glamour by night made India the envy of the world. Hilariously, Obama’s “AfPak” aide Richard Holbrooke held a two-hour press briefing to massage the Pakistani ego. “No one in Pakistan, and no one in any other country, should read this [Manmohan’s visit] as a diminution of the importance we attach to them,” pleaded Holbrooke.

Holbrooke struggled to spin the visit but pictures of the state dinner crept into newspapers around the world giving the India-US relationship some razzle-dazzle. It was a compliment for Singh that at the dinner, Obama gave a toast that praised the business and the pleasure of the visit.

“At the end, it is clear that Singh has succeeded in moving the Obama administration towards more helpful positions on India’s difficult relations with China and Pakistan,” C Raja Mohan, the Kissinger Scholar at the Library of Congress, told DNA.

“The question now is whether Dr Singh can take full advantage of this by developing more creative policies towards Beijing and Islamabad.”