Wendy Sherman’s visit indicates deepening of strategic ties: India’s strategic relations with Russia should not become an irritant  

There has been a flurry of high-level engagement between the US and India in the recent period. The visit of Wendy Sherman from 5th to 7th October was in continuation of earlier contacts. According to MEA, this visit provided “an excellent opportunity” for both sides to follow-up on the outcomes of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Joseph R Biden and also the Quad Leaders’ Summit.  During her visit, the ongoing collaboration under the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership was reviewed. Issues like containing the Covid-19 pandemic, the Quad vaccine partnership to make vaccines available to the Indo-Pacific region, building resilient supply chains, easing international travel, climate change, clean energy, and emerging technologies were discussed in a focused manner.

Two important issues received higher priority. First was the situation in South Asia, including recent developments in Afghanistan, the need to counter cross-border terrorism, and to ensure peace and stability including through implementation of UNSC Resolution 2593. On these issues, it was agreed that there would be regular consultation to coordinate their approaches. 

The second issue was the need for more steps to actualise a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. This issue has been discussed recently between US President Biden and Indian PM Modi both bilaterally and in the first Quad in-person meeting as also in other meetings. The US has shown keen interest in this direction.

The State Department’s spokesperson Ned Price expressed the importance of India for the above two issues. He stated that Sherman discussed with the Indian officials and leaders the pressing regional and global security challenges that included those posed by events in Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, the People’s Republic of China. This indicates convergence as well as divergence. India does not see any security challenge from Russia and Iran. India is trying to further improve its relations with both of them and with Russia, it has a special and privileged strategic partnership. He further stated that the partnership with India “is incredibly important to us as we seek to underscore and to underline a free and open Indo-Pacific” and that “India, to us, as a member of the Quad, as an important geopolitical partner, is an instrumental element to that overarching goal”.

On Pakistan, Wendy stated that Washington has “no interest” in going back to the days hyphenating India and Pakistan, and that her trip to Islamabad is only for “specific and narrow purpose”. She explained in Mumbai that from Pakistan she would like ‘to know what is going on in Afghanistan’. She also stated that everyone’s security interests including that of India is to be protected. And in this context, she would have specific questions from Pakistani side.   

On the Taliban, she said that no one believes them and that so far, they have fallen short of their commitments. She also stressed the need for an inclusive government as also an end to reprisals and terrorism. The list is important but the events there suggest that Pakistan and their collaborators Taliban have no intention of containing terrorism. The recent events both in Afghanistan and in the J&K suggest that targeted attacks against minorities have increased and portend further rise in the coming period. There is no doubt a coordinated approach is needed. The US needs to immediately take action against Pakistan, which is the behind such dastardly attacks. 

The US needs to realise that if Taliban-Pakistan are not controlled, it could result in attacks on the US interests also. The hardliners among the Taliban consider that they had been ousted from their country by the US. Their anger is palpable. The US can no longer have the comfort of sitting at a distance. 

India’s overall strategic interests should also be understood and in this context the import of S-400 missiles from Russia must be shown due sensitivity. While she indicated the rule position, the issue could form an important irritant in relations between the two countries. Some security experts in India perceive that there has been a dilution of relationship with Russia. India has to maintain its strategic autonomy. The Indo-Russian strategic partnership has been built on six major components: politics, defence, civil nuclear energy, anti-terrorism co-operation, space, and now economic. In India’s perception, Russia has an important role in the maintenance of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Moreover, dealing with Taliban the Russian support would be invaluable. One hopes that the US would adopt the correct approach and would not allow its difference with Russia to have an impact on the Indo-US ties. The embrace should not become too tight that may become suffocating.