How Back-Channel Talks Set Stage for Modi's Visit to US

Modi-Trump meeting likely in Feb

- Prashant Jha

WASHINGTON: The secret of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's early visit to Washington DC lies with two central protagonists and in four visits.

The central characters in this saga are Michael Waltz and S Jaishankar. And the plot begins with Waltz's visit to Delhi in August 2023, and Jaishankar's three visits to Washington DC in the last five months. Together, it is a saga of providence, astute diplomatic investment, political signaling, and confident engagement.

The Waltz connection On the occasion of the completion of the celebrations of 75 years of Independence, the Indian government invited a special Congressional delegation of members of the House India caucus, led by Congressman Waltz, then a Republican representative from Florida, and Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from California.

Waltz was not particularly well-known, but Indian diplomats of the time had done well in identifying him as a rising star in the Republican Party. He was a veteran of the Afghanistan war, furious with the manner of US withdrawal from Kabul but also now instinctively trained to spot Pakistani duplicity. His wife, Julia Nesheiwat, had served as Trump's homeland security advisor in the final year of his first term.