The US and India have agreed on defense cooperation.

 

To increase defense cooperation and deepen critical information sharing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden have agreed to place three Indian liaison officers in US commands.

 

The US and India advanced steps to operationalize tools that will allow the two nations to increase their defense cooperation, the White House said on Thursday following summit talks between Biden and Modi.

 

What was the basis of this agreement between India and America? How will the relations between the two countries develop in the future?

 

Matthew Bryza, an international expert, board member of the Jamestown Foundation, and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan said Ednews that military cooperation between the United States and India has been at a relatively low level throughout the past decades:

 

“India has relied on Russia and before that, the Soviet Union, for the foundation of its military capabilities. This agreement between the defense industries of the United States and India cooperating is very significant in terms of India and the United States realizing that despite their differences on many issues, they have a strategic interest in cooperating to contain China.”

 

According to him, there's no chance, or we're not talking about a war between India and China, but throughout the decades, as we know, India and China have had a high level of military tension:

 

“Their forces clashed just a couple of years ago in the Himalayas. And in the past, there have been military clashes between India and China. So historically, India has looked away from China and largely to Russia for security against China, while China and Pakistan have cooperated together.”

 

The former ambassador noted that Blinken's recent trip to China is simply an attempt to reduce the tension between the United States and China:

 

“One more thing to keep in mind is that China is a member of two important groupings of countries that seem to be aimed, in some ways, against each other. First India is part of the BRICS. That's Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which has been more supportive of Russia than the United States and its friends and allies in NATO and in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. But India is also a member of the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), which consists of the United States and Japan and India, and Australia. So India is a member of both of those groupings, and it shows it is not totally joining one or the other, but is looking for balance in its foreign policy, which is the wise thing to do. India was never included in the, as we know, the Security Council of the United Nations after World War II. It missed opportunities to be at that highest level of international relations. And now, with its affiliation with both the Russia-focused group and the US-focused group, it's finding maybe a place at that strategic table.”

 

Ulviyya Shahin