India and the US pact open the sale of critical US defense technologies

New Delhi:

India and the United States today signed a long-standing defense agreement, COMCASA, which will allow New Delhi to purchase sensitive US military equipment.

The Compatibility and Security of Communications Agreement (COMCASA) was signed after the meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during the first dialogue between the two countries. .

While Mike Pompeo called the COMCASA agreement a "milestone" in American-Indian relations, Ms. Sitharaman said the pact would strengthen India's defense capability and readiness.

The world's two largest democracies have come together in recent years, looking for ways to counterbalance China's growing influence in Asia, including Pakistan, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

"This meeting focused on regional stability in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific … India being part of groups such as ASEAN also helps a lot in this endeavor", said Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. "At today 's meeting, we agreed to speed up the process of India' s entry into the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group)," said Ms. Swaraj.

Before coming to India, Mr. Pompeo had talks in Islamabad with Pakistan's new government and most of the generals.

"We have agreed to a direct line between … (Nirmala) Sitharaman and (Jim) Mattis," said Mike Pompeo. "India and the United States defend freedom and democratic values ​​… and we intend to extend this through the Indo-Pacific (…), we will work at different levels to guarantee the freedom of the Indo-Pacific ".

The presence of US troops in Afghanistan has heightened US sensitivity to rivalry between India and Pakistan with nuclear weapons. In addition, Washington and New Delhi are concerned about anti-Western and anti-Indian terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

India and the United States both wanted to sign the COMCASA, which has now cleared the way for the sale of US military equipment more sensitive to India.

"Defense has become the most important aspect of our discussions today," said Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"We discussed how we can communicate more openly because of the sensitivity of some technologies … we need to know that when we share this with another like-minded nation, we can keep it safe." Mr. Mattis said earlier. "I think we are already here on the American side," said Mattis.

The United States has become India's second-largest arms supplier, concluding deals worth $ 15 billion over the last decade,

Once the communication agreement is in place, this could lead to the sale of an armed version of the Guardian UAVs because Washington has until now only authorized the sale of versions of unarmed surveillance of the aircraft.

Experts believe that the deal could reduce the chances of the United States imposing sanctions on India for seeking to buy Russian S-400 ground-to-air missile systems.

The United States has imposed radical sanctions on Russia, under which any country engaged in its defense and intelligence sectors could face US secondary sanctions.

However, a new defense bill proposes to grant the President of the United States the power to grant waivers where national security interests are at stake.

The United States is also pushing countries to halt Iran's oil imports after US President Donald Trump withdraws from a 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers to delay capacity development Tehran.

India is Iran's first oil buyer after China and is seeking a US waiver.

Before the talks in New Delhi, a senior US State Department official said the United States had engaged in "very detailed talks" with India on Washington's request to completely stop Indian oil imports.

"We are asking all our partners, not just India, to reduce oil imports from Iran to zero and I am confident that this will be part of our conversation with India," he said. .

(With agency contributions)