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NEW DELHI – The United States and India signed a major military communications agreement on Thursday during a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to New Delhi, highlighting the growing partnership between the two countries.
The agreement, which has been under discussion for more than a decade, will allow India to receive military-grade communication equipment from the United States and exchange real-time encrypted information on the platforms used by the United States. the Indian and American armed forces.
Pompeo and Mattis were in India for their first joint meeting with their Indian counterparts, a conclave aimed at highlighting areas of agreement between the two largest democracies in the world – while minimizing areas of tension.
Relations between the United States and India have entered a "new era," said Pompeo, adding that Thursday's meeting was "the symbol of our ever-closer partnership."
At a high strategic level, the United States and India are keen to develop closer ties. Each considers the other as a useful partner to control China's ambitions in Asia and as an ally in counterterrorism efforts. Sales of US military equipment in India have increased dramatically over the last decade and the United States is now the second largest arms supplier in India.
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The Agreement on Compatibility and Security of Communications, signed Thursday by Mattis and his Indian counterpart, is a type of fundamental agreement that the United States uses as a framework for military cooperation with other countries. (Washington has such agreements with fewer than 30 countries, Reuters news agency reported.)
India hesitated to conclude the agreement partly out of fear that the United States would have access to Indian military communications.
"If the Indian establishment is ready to move forward with politically sensitive but functional agreements, I see this as a good sign," said Joshua White, senior advisor for South Asian Affairs to the Council. national security. .
Indeed, the Indian Minister of Defense, Nirmala Sitharaman, was convinced of the prospects for collaboration. Defense cooperation "has emerged as the most important dimension of our strategic partnership and a key factor in our overall bilateral relationship," she said Thursday. Dynamics in this area has "imbued a tremendous positive energy" in US-Indian relations, she said.
But in areas other than defense, the relationship has progressed more abruptly. India is one of the many targets of President Trump's crusade to reduce the US trade deficit, and both countries have imposed reduced tariffs. The Trump administration is pushing India to increase its imports of US goods and significantly reduce its purchases of Iranian oil or to face sanctions.
Thursday's meeting was to be held in Washington but was postponed twice by the Trump administration. Mr. Pompeo gave a conciliatory tone on the areas of friction between the two countries in remarks made to journalists after half a day of meetings in New Delhi.
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Many countries, including India, "are in a place where they need some time to get rid of oil imports from Iran," he said. "We will work with them, I am sure, to find a logical result." The Trump administration has withdrawn from a nuclear deal reached in 2015 with Iran and reinstate the nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted under the agreement.
Pompeo also said that the United States would work with India on another area of concern: India's upcoming purchase of a Russian missile and air defense system, the S-400. The purchase will violate the sanctions instituted by the Congress on arms purchases to Russia, but lawmakers have authorized the possibility of a presidential waiver.
Pompeo said that no decision has been made as to the advisability of granting a waiver to India. But "we understand the history of India's relations with Russia," he said. "Our effort here is not to penalize major strategic partners like India."
Pompeo's visit to India took place the day after his visit to Pakistan, where he urged the country's army and newly elected prime minister to make concrete progress in the fight against the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan. The Trump administration has recently suspended $ 300 million in aid to Pakistan for its failures in the fight against these activists – a difficult approach welcomed by India.
Pompeo and Mattis also met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday afternoon. India has invited Trump to attend the annual Republic Day celebration in January, with a large military parade, but it is unclear whether Trump will be present.
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