US and India Ties Are Circled By Red Flags

- Saif Sharin

The bear hug in the Rose Garden was just the icing on the cake. As foreign visits go, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sojourn in the States was seemingly a success even before his plane touched the tarmac in Washington DC.

In anticipation of his visit, the US State Department approved the contentious sale of 22 Guardian drones manufactured by California-based General Atomics to India—signalling an upswing in defence relations. On the eve of the visit, President Donald Trump’s administration designated Pakistan-based Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin a ‘global terrorist’— vindicating India’s stance on cross-border terror. And hours before his arrival, Trump himself tweeted that the Indian prime minister was a ‘true friend’.

What more could Modi ask for? Not a lot, as it turned out.

Modi’s two-day stay in the US reverberated with hand clasps and happy talk. Business matters were high on the agenda and he met a number of American CEOs. The premier also had two meetings with the president and became the first foreign dignitary to be hosted for dinner in the Trump White House. The two leaders is sued a joint statement, touching on trade and terrorism, in the lush greens adjacent to the Oval Office—during which Modi eagerly, if awkwardly, hugged Trump. “Modi got more out of the visit than he might have expected,” said Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.