Kerry in India

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to India was a reaffirmation of a truth that has long been evident: the US now counts India as one of its closest allies. There is economic and political logic behind this closeness. India’s galloping development along with its massive market makes it too tempting an economic partner for the US to resist. Politically, both countries count China as a rival to be countered. This forces the US to carry out a difficult balancing act with Pakistan. It needs Pakistan as a partner, if a reluctant one, for its war in Afghanistan but is also unhappy with our closeness to China. Those ties have become even closer with the advent of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which gives China access to a warm water port and land routes into the rest of Asia. This political closeness has translated into the US pushing for India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group. During this Kerry trip, India reciprocated by giving the US access to military bases in the country, although it stopped short of allowing US soldiers from being posted there. The often contradictory duality of US relations with Pakistan was on display at Kerry’s joint press conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, where Swaraj was concerned mainly with getting Kerry to denounce Pakistan while the secretary of state tried to have it both ways without offending his Indian hosts.

Swaraj condemned Pakistan drawing distinctions between supposed ‘good’ and ‘bad’ terrorists with Kerry agreeing that no such differences should be made. But the two sides were probably talking about different things. When India talks about Pakistan supporting ‘good’ terrorists it is mainly referring to the Kashmiri resistance to Indian occupation as a way of discrediting its indigenous nature. For Kerry, the allegation that Pakistan supports ‘good’ terrorists is a reference to our supposed patronage of the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network. Even there, Pakistan and the US are not that far apart. Both countries are members of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, which has the explicit aim of bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table and starting a process of reconciliation with the Afghan government. The US realises, even though it is loath to admit, that it cannot win the war in Afghanistan through solely military means. This has been Pakistan’s position all along. Pakistan, therefore, should not overreact to Kerry’s statements especially since he noted, in India of all places, that we have made significant progress in our fight against militancy. It is also not worth getting worked up over India’s closeness to the US since that was inevitable and unpreventable. We need to focus on our own security, interests and alliances without throwing covetous glances in the two countries’ direction.