Anil Narendra
As a Senator, John Kerry, the US
Secretary of State has visited India
a number of times, but this was his maiden visit as the Secretary of State and
that too, with the intent of holding important strategic talks. India and the US do not agree on a number of
bilateral and international issues and this is the conclusion of the fourth
round of strategic talks between two countries. Perhaps, there was little hope
of any positive result of the talks, because there appeared to be divergent
views on many issues. It has become customary these days to term bilateral
relations or mutual talks between the two countries as strategic, if these are
to be given importance. But, if there is basic difference of opinion on the talks’
agenda, then naturally the talks cannot be termed as strategic. Even prior to
John Kerry’s visit to India ,
opinions were being expressed, which were not favourable to India . There
are, however a number of issues that deserve attention of both the countries,
but the most important issue, at present, concerns the US Afghan policy, at
this juncture. It became clear from the statements issued in New
Delhi by John Kerry that the US ,
which is prepared to talk to Taliban to facilitate its withdrawal from Afghanistan , is not prepared to offend Pakistan with
its action or talks at present. The reason for this may be that Taliban may be
dancing to the tunes of Pakistan
to some extent. As a result, John Kerry forgot to mention about the victims of
the 26/11 terror attack. On the contrary, he even advised India and Pakistan to invest in mutual
relations, only then the world would in vest in them. The advice may be right,
but it does not answer the question that how India can have faith in Pakistan
and invest there, when it continues to allow terrorists to operate from its
soil, it doesn’t give up its efforts to gain strategic objectives through
terrorism and continue to convert Afghanistan into its advance post of its
strategic policy? The joint statement issued at the conclusion of the talks had
no mention of spying on India
on a very large scale by Iran ,
Syria and the US and this indicated that differences between India and the US on many issues still persist. It
is being said that the warmth in relations with India during the first tenure of
Barack Obama is no more visible in his second tenure. There appears to be a
static phase in relationship. It may be due to the recession being faced by
both the economies. Foreign trade and foreign investment are static. America is
under pressure to take protectionist steps in the country. The US also wants India to further relax its nuclear liability
laws, so that nuclear pact could be furthered. It will not be easy for the UPA
Government that had to face an uphill task in getting the law cleared by the
Parliament, to subject it to further amendments. Moreover, India wants US
to support it in getting a berth in the Nuclear Disarmament Agency. There were
thus formal announcements of strengthening mutual relations in the name of the
so-called strategic talks and the talks were just rendered formal talks. The
issues like obstacles in getting American visa by Indian IT personnel and Obama
administration’s policy against outsourcing have made the trade relations between
the two countries more complex. Kerry has not given any assurance for removing
these obstacles. The US
vice-President Joe Biden will be coming to India next month, while the
US-visit of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has almost been decided for
September. Let’s wait and watch whether the disputed issues between both the
countries are resolved or not. The John Kerry visit has been most disappointing
and nothing has been gained by it.
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