Indian resentment

Secretary Clinton has announced that US-India relations are entering a new era, which she has called "US-India 3.0". This new phase of bilateral relations would come after a first phase full of mutual distrust during the Cold War and a slow rapprochement process under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

In her Council on Foreign Relations address in Washington this week, Clinton said her talks in Mumbai and Delhi would cover an unprecedentedly wide range of issues. "We are delighted that our two countries will be engaging in a very broad, comprehensive dialogue. We believe India has a tremendous opportunity and growing responsibility, which they acknowledge, to play not just a regional role, but a global one as well."

Pakistan is top regional issue

The most important regional issue is considered to be Pakistan. India has generally been supportive of the Obama administration's so called AfPak (Afghanistan-Pakistan) policies, says Chintamani Mahapatra, an expert in Indo-US relations at Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University.

But, he adds, there remains disagreement on some issues: "American interest is confined to making Pakistan fight the Taliban, who are anti-US, anti-West. And Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups of terrorists in Pakistan who are fomenting problems in India, both in Kashmir and elsewhere, are off the hook."

India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attacks that killed more than 170 people last November and has suspended the "composite dialogue" process with Pakistan as a consequence. However, at this week's meeting between the two countries' prime ministers in Sharm-el-Sheikh, the Indian position seemed to have mellowed somewhat.

The US will surely be happy about this, as any Indo-Pakistani conflict would distract Pakistan from fighting the Taliban. Observers also expect Clinton to try and convince Delhi that the Kashmir conflict needs more attention.

Non-proliferation

Before leaving for India, the Secretary of State also mentioned that she wanted to talk about nuclear non-proliferation. A tricky affair, since India has never been officially acknowledged as a nuclear power and refuses to sign the non-proliferation treaty, which it regards as discriminatory.

Clinton has signalled that the Americans are ready to look for innovative solutions: "There is nothing easy about non-proliferation. I mean, anybody who ever read Strobe Talbott's book ‘Engaging India' knows this is a very difficult issue."

Other difficult issues likely to crop up during Clinton's trip to India include climate change and the "Doha Round" global trade negotiations. But Clinton is also going to want to simply improve the mood in India.

Buttering up the Indians

Chintamani Mahapatra says the country has felt neglected by the Obama administration so far: "I think the Obama administration has marginalized India for quite a few months now. We understand why it did so because the foreign policy plate of Obama was truly overflowing."

But he adds that at a time when Hillary Clinton's clout in the administration is openly questioned in the US, it is not likely that her visit alone will impress the Indians. "We know very well that Hillary Clinton's position in the decision-making process in the US is not very strong."

Although she has the ear of the president and has taken many foreign policy initiatives, they have not been taken up by the White House, says Mahapatra who already talks about a visit of President Barack Obama to India. "Our prime minister is going to visit the US in September, and he had extended an invitation to President Obama. Hopefully, he will come to India not towards the end of his term, but in the middle of his term if he really wants to improve the relationship between the two countries."

So while there might be no serious conflict between India and the United States right now, there also seems to be little enthusiasm about "US-India 3.0".

Author: Thomas Bärthlein(mik)

Editor: Neil King