India – U.S. Relations: A General Overview

The barbaric terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 have proved to be a defining event in US relations with the rest of the world, including India. It has shifted the dynamic of US foreign policy discourse and has reinforced the growing solidarity and understanding between India and the United States as they jointly strive to combat the menace of international terrorism.   The Bush Administration has acknowledged India as a major power and has repeatedly signaled its intention to build further upon recent progress in bilateral relations.  President Bush’s invitation to Prime Minister Vajpayee to visit Washington on 7-9 November 2001 is to be seen in this context.  

Bilateral interactions

The visits to India in March 2000 by President William Jefferson Clinton and to the US in September 2000 by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, only the second occasion in the history of India-US relations when reciprocal summit visits have taken place in the same year, provided an opportunity for both countries to open a new and qualitatively different chapter in their bilateral relations.  This objective was reiterated by the two leaders both in public statements and private conversations during the visits.

The pace of bilateral engagement since the assumption of office of President Bush has been unprecedented.  External Affairs Minister & Defense Minister Jaswant Singh visited Washington twice, in April and October 2001.  On both occasions, he was received with great warmth by President Bush.  He also met Vice-President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.  Apart from a range of bilateral issues, discussions focused on the aftermath of the September 11 incident and its implications for India-US relations and the situation in India’s neighborhood.

Principal Secretary to PM and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra also visited Washington twice in June and September.  During the latter visit, he met with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage, besides key Senators and Congressmen.  While discussions during the earlier visit centered on the new strategic framework and the forthcoming Agra summit between India and Pakistan, the latter visit focused on the September 11 tragedy.

The visits in May 2001 of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to India and Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer to Washington were useful opportunities to cover ground on a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues.  The US welcomed our reaction on May 2 to the new US strategic framework outlined by President Bush the previous day.  We reacted positively to those elements of the strategic framework that were consistent with our own policy and outlook, namely, the movement away from the Cold War security architecture based on Mutually Assured Destruction and the promise of unilateral reduction of the arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons. We have at the same time emphasized the importance of a process based on consultation and cooperation.

Strategic Convergence

The statement by Secretary of State Colin Powell at his Senate confirmation hearing in January that India has the capacity to keep the peace in the Indian Ocean and its periphery was a telling indication of how the new Administration viewed the potential for a partnership with India in the region.  The terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001 have brought our common concerns on this issue to the forefront of our bilateral interaction.   President Bush and other members of his Administration have expressed deep gratitude for India’s offer of full support to the US campaign against terrorism.  The US has assured India that it values a longer-term strategic partnership anchored in our common values and driven by the congruency of our common interests.

Cooperation in Counter-terrorism

Following the attack against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 and the hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar in December 1999, India and United States set up a Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism at the senior official level.  Three meetings of the Joint Working Group have been held so far in February 2000, September 2000 and June 2001. A Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance between the two countries was signed between Home Minister L. K. Advani and Secretary of State Colin Powell during the latter’s visit to Delhi on 16-17 October 2001.  

The US has clarified that its campaign against terrorism would target all terrorist groups including those active against India.  The US has also unreservedly condemned the attack on the J&K Legislature in Srinagar on October 1.  While the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen has been on the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations since 1997, both the Harakat and Jaish-e-Muhammad have recently been included in the list of individuals and terrorist organizations maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of Treasury.

Trade

Trade between India and the United States has shown a healthy growth in 2000 with India’s exports increasing by almost twenty five per cent over the level of the previous year.  Bilateral trade now stands at around US$15 billion.  Software exports account for another US$3 billion (approximately).  USTR Mr. Robert Zoellick became the first member of President Bush’s Cabinet to visit India in August 2001.  

Removal of Economic Restrictions

President Bush on September 22, 2001 issued Presidential Determination No. 2001-28 using the authority granted to him by Title IX of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2000 (Sec.9001) to waive the application of the Glenn Amendment to India thus restoring the status quo ante May 1998.  The Entities List published by BXA in June 1998 has been drastically pruned.  The processing of applications for export to the few remaining entities has also been changed from ‘presumption of denial’ to ‘case-by-case’ basis. 

Defense Cooperation

Both countries have agreed to resume the dialogue on defense cooperation.  The then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry Shelton visited India on 18 and 19 July 2001, when it was agreed to revive the institutional dialogue that was suspended in the wake of the Pokhran tests.  A meeting of the revived Defense Policy Group is likely to be scheduled soon.    A US team in the area of search & rescue visited India in August.  A similar team in the area of disaster management is to visit shortly.

Science and Technology Cooperation

A Joint Statement of Intent to establish an Indo-US S&T Forum was signed in December 1997 in New Delhi.  An Agreement on setting up a Science and Technology Forum was concluded during President Clinton’s visit in March 2000.  Two Roundtables respectively were held during the visits to India of President Clinton in March 2000 and to the US of Prime Minister Vajpayee in September 2000. 

A joint statement on cooperation in energy and environment was issued by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Agra in the course of President Clinton’s visit to India.  A Joint Working Group, set up within the framework of the statement’s intent, held its first meeting in Washington at the end of July 2000.  Informal consultations have also taken place between the two countries in the areas of climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. 

Indian American Community

The 1.7 million-strong Indian American community in the US provides a strong bond between India and the US.  It is notable in the San Francisco-Los Angeles, New York-New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, Miami-Orlando-Tampa and the greater Washington D.C. area.  While the first wave of Indian immigrants to the US in the 1960s and 1970s were professionals like doctors, scientists and engineers, recent trends show substantial diversification of skills.  Indian Americans have organized themselves into a large number of associations and organizations mainly on the basis of language and, occasionally, profession.  With increasing wealth particularly from the IT and biotechnology sectors, the community has been playing an increasingly active role in the political field.  A significant manifestation of the growing political consciousness and influence of the Indian American community is the emergence of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans which now boasts of a strength of 130 in the House of Representatives, the largest single-country Caucus in the House.  Both the Caucus and the Indian American community have emerged as major players in the effort to break with the past and firmly align the policies and interests of the world’s two largest democracies.