Brendan Taylor claims that his book is the first systematic analysis of American sanction policy in the Asia-Pacific during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The book is divided into six chapters which include introduction, conclusion as well as policy recommendations.
The Obama Administration has focused its Africa policy mainly on democracy, economic growth, food security, democracy, conflict prevention and mitigation, as well as dealing with transnational threats. These broad strategic objectives of the Administration also indicate the vastness and diversity of the African continent and its varying requirements. The United States has provided a substantial amount of aid to Africa in health programmes.
During the visit of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to India in April this year, India and the United States had agreed “in principle” on a logistics support agreement which was first proposed in 2004. After years of deliberations, India and the United States formally signed this agreement known as Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) this Monday in Washington DC, during Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s visit to the United States.
LEMOA is a facilitating agreement which is likely to enhance efficiency of joint military activities and operations launched by India and the United States whenever they decide to undertake. With this agreement, India and United States will also be able to avail access to each other’s military facilities for various logistical supports during ports calls, joint military exercises, military training, disaster relief operations, humanitarian operations etc. The agreement will enable India and the United States to access military supplies, fuel, spare parts as well as services from each other’s facilities as and when its is required and for which reimbursement would be made.
A joint statement issued by the Pentagon noted, Defence relationship between India and the United States is based on the two countries’ shared values and interests, and their abiding commitment to global peace and security. Welcoming the signing of LEMOA, the statement pointed out that this agreement “will facilitate additional opportunities for practical engagement and exchange.” Signing of LEMOA can be regarded as a significant move forward in India-US defence cooperation. It also indicates at the ongoing positive momentum in bourgeoning Indo-US strategic partnership. India and the United States have been making efforts to strengthen mutual defence relationship across wide areas covering enhanced strategic and regional cooperation, to deepen military to military exchanges and greater collaboration on defence trade, technology and innovation.
It should be clarified that this agreement does not give any basing rights to any of the two parties. Also, the logistical support will be decided on a case to case basis as and when required. Commenting on this agreement, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook noted, “it will make the conduct of US operations with the Indian military much more efficient and effective. LEMOA is consistent with agreements the US has with other countries.” The United States has already signed this agreement with around 100 countries which includes its strategic allies as well as partners.
In light of Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India campaign, New Delhi has been emphasising upon co-development and co-production of defence equipments in India. To achieve this goal, Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) was launched. LEMOA would help in expediting high end technology transfer processes from United States to India. Besides LEMOA is an amended version of traditional Logistics Support Agreement (LSA). The other two agreements are Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation (BECA) which is likely to be negotiated by both sides after the successful implementation of LEMOA.
The significance of this agreement is of symbolic value as well for enhancing Indo-US strategic partnership. It indicates there is greater trust and synergy which is being developed by both the nations. India-US strategic partnership has been transformed in last one and half decades and the LEMOA is a movement forward in building greater trust and understanding and in taking the relationship to a higher trajectory.
Coincidentally, the day after signing of this agreement, the second India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue was held in New Delhi as part of an annual review of the entire gamut of India-US strategic ties. Signing of LEMOA gave momentum to the delegations from both the sides for more robust and successful dialogue as well as its outcomes with regard to all aspects of India-US ties.
It would be essential to emphasize that India and the United States are strategic partners. India exercises strategic autonomy in making its foreign and security policy choices and the signing of LEMOA does not make any change in this position of India’s foreign policy approach and its implementation.
The article was originally published in AIR World Service.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on a five-nation tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, United States and Mexico today. Prime Minister’s first stop will be Afghanistan where he along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will jointly inaugurate the Salma Dam situated in Herat province of western Afghanistan. This dam now known as ‘Afghan-India Friendship Dam’ has been built with Delhi’s assistance. This indicates India’s continued support and partnership for reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. The Qatar visit is significant in view of India’s energy security as well as its outreach to West Asia. Mr. Modi will hold extensive discussions with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on a range of issues with special focus on the Hydrocarbon sector. During the year 2015-16, 65 per cent of India’s total LNG requirements were fulfilled by Qatar. In Switzerland, Mr. Modi will hold talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann. Prime Minister Modi is likely to discuss the early conclusion of an agreement regarding automatic exchange of tax information which will help tracking unaccounted money which might have been deposited in Swiss Banks by Indian nationals. During Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Mexico, issues relating to agriculture, energy, space and science and technology as well as multilateral cooperation are likely to be discussed. The major highlight of this tour would be Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States beginning June 7. This would be Mr. Modi’s fourth visit to the United States in his two years in office. Even President Obama, during his two terms, visited India twice, thus becoming the first US president to do so. These regular bilateral visits by top leaders of India and the United States to each other’s capitals clearly indicates that India-US strategic partnership is constantly deepening and moving towards attaining higher levels of maturity.
Prime Minister Modi will hold comprehensive discussions with US President Barack Obama on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues. The significance of the visit will be to consolidate the progress made in diverse areas such as economy, energy, environment, defence and security, and to intensify cooperation for the future. Among major issues, security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is likely to be one key areas of discussion. Mr. Modi’s visit to United States, Switzerland and Mexico assumes special significance as these three nations are Nuclear Security Group (NSG) members and the visits to these countries will greatly help in coordinating India’s efforts for securing its membership in the group. In Washington DC, the Indian Prime Minister will have the honour of addressing a joint session of US Congress on June 8. While inviting Prime Minister Modi to address US Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan had noted, “This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world’s most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity.” This will be a historic occasion. It is likely that Prime Minister Modi would be discussing his long term vision for India and its role in regional and global affairs and India-US strategic partnership.
It would be worth noting that India-US strategic partnership which is based on a solid foundation of shared values, shared interests and shared challenges has deepened further during Obama presidency. India-US bilateral defence trade has reached at about 14 billion USD. India conducts more military exercises with the United States as compare to any other nation. India and US are working together to transform their defence relations from being a buyer-seller to coproduction and co-development through Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) which vindicate the visionary ‘Make in India’ programme of Prime Minister Modi. India-US defence framework agreement has been renewed for another 10 years in June, 2015.
To realize the vast untapped potential of economic partnership between two largest democracies, both nations are aspiring to take their bilateral trade to 500 billion USD in years to come which is currently above 100 billion USD in goods and services per year. The US State Department has noted that United States is looking forward to “having a very robust, comprehensive discussion with the prime minister”; Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington would provide greater vision and direction for India-US strategic partnership.
The article was originally published in the All India Radio ‘AIR World Service’
United States President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima on May 27 is of immense historic value as well as of great importance for contemporary times and the future.
He is the first US President who will visit Hiroshima, nearly 71 years after the city was obliterated by an American nuclear bomb. Soon after assuming the office of President, Obama showed his commitment to nuclear disarmament when he delivered a speech in Prague on April 5, 2009 (external link). It was not a surprise that after this speech, Obama was chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In his Prague speech, Obama stated, 'And as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavour alone, but we can lead it, we can start it. So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.'
The Nobel committee took note of Obama's noble intentions for nuclear disarmament as well and while conferring on him the Peace Prize, the committee stated, 'The committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons....The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations.'
Obama had wanted to visit Hiroshima during his presidency, a visit which is now taking place in his final months in office. Obama's visit highlights the fact that even the United States, the only nation which has used nuclear weapons in war, realises the futility of these monstrous weapons.
A devil's advocate may argue that the use of nuclear weapons delivered the ultimate blow to the Japanese war effort, ending World War II. What these weapons achieved was instant massive devastation of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and thereafter, a constant existential fear of such a war which could lead to the extinction of humankind itself.
Nuclear weapons were not used in a war just once, but twice. First, in 1945, in Hiroshima on August 6. Even after witnessing the massive devastation and mass destruction caused by this monstrous weapon, the Americans used it again in Nagasaki three days later, on August 9, which raises the apprehension and fear that it can be used again.
In this regard, President Obama's visit to Hiroshima is a great symbolic gesture which would help mitigate such apprehensions and fears as well as strengthen a regime of deep trust and understanding aimed at ensuring that these weapons of mass destruction shall never ever be used again.
The May 27 visit will certainly add to President Obama's legacy and he will go down in history as a leader who remained committed and strived for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament from the very beginning till the end of his presidency.
During his first term, Obama negotiated a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (external link) with Russia in April 2010, started the Nuclear Security Summit process in 2010, which was aimed at addressing the danger of nuclear terrorism by way of securing and minimising nuclear material, upgrading cooperation in the international community to check and prevent nuclear material from illegally falling into the hands of terrorists as well as strengthen the nuclear security system globally.
During his second term, Obama made greater efforts for a nuclear deal with Iran, which was signed in July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 nations (the US, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, France and Germany). This historic agreement will immensely help in reducing the nuclear arms race in the Middle East and indeed around the world as well as strengthen the global regime for nuclear security.
Obama's visit to Hiroshima boldly reiterates the fact that nuclear weapons are not weapons of war.
Obama's visit to Hiroshima must generate a fresh debate in the international community about how to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons in international politics and how to disarm the world from these monstrous weapons forever.
It is essential to note that nuclear disarmament is not possible by one single nation alone. It must necessarily be a global effort. A single nation will not give up its nuclear weapons at the cost of its own security.
Obama's nuclear weapons modernisation programme of $1 trillion in 30 years -- which is the largest programme in history -- should be viewed with this perspective. Unilateral efforts will not succeed. Nuclear arms control and disarmament efforts can only succeed if these are global and collective involving all nations and civil societies around the globe.
The international community must strive hard to ensure that nuclear weapons never fall into the hands of terrorists and also how to secure these weapons when it is in the hands of unstable and rogue regimes like North Korea.
The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC on March 31 and April 1 was called the 'final summit'. This visionary process Obama initiated must continue even after he leaves office because the threats related to nuclear weapons and material remains. The Nuclear Security Summit's recommendations must be vigorously followed. The implementation needs to be regularly monitored and the progress reviewed constantly.
A global regime of concern and trust for nuclear arms control and disarmament must constantly be developed and nurtured. President Obama's visit to Hiroshima will greatly help nurture such a regime.
The article was originally published in the Rediff News
Narendra Modi will visit the United States in early June 2016 for the fourth times in his two years as prime minster of India. This clearly indicates the deepening process of engagement between India and the United States; both sides are developing a deeper understanding on wide range of bilateral and global issues and constantly moving forward. This is U.S. President Barack Obama’s final year in office as well. Modi’s visit to Washington will be an occasion to pay tribute to Obama for what his administration has done to deepen the India-U.S. strategic partnership.
The best tribute to Obama’s legacy would be for both sides to clearly articulate a vision for the India-U.S. strategic partnership for the long term. Thereafter, they must strive to implement those policies and plans that have long been committed on paper during Obama’s term.
For Obama, Modi’s visit is a chance to articulate his long term vision for the India-U.S. strategic partnership and how he would like see this partnership to flourish in the future, under his successors. Modi will have a golden opportunity to do the same. During this visit, the Indian prime minister will have the honor of addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress on June 8, 2016. As Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn, co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, the only country-specific caucus in the U.S. Senate, said in a joint statement, the invitation for “Modi to address Congress demonstrates the growing commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership between the U.S. and India.” This will be a historic opportunity for Modi. As he addresses the U.S. Congress, he should clearly enunciate his vision for India, its role in regional and global affairs, and the long-term future for the India-U.S. strategic partnership.
During this visit, Modi should also meet with the top leaders of the Democratic and Republican Parties in the United States in order to build a personal rapport with them. It’s worth noting that no matter which candidate wins the White House for the next four years, India-U.S. ties will continue to grow because there is a deeper realization in both nations that the strategic partnership is based on shared values, shared interests, and shared challenges. That is why there is bipartisan support in both nations for enhancing this vital strategic partnership between world’s two largest democracies.
Obama has elevated the India-U.S. strategic partnership to higher levels. As president, he visited India twice, the only U.S. president to do so. During his tenure, India-U.S. ties expanded and transformed into a global strategic partnership. India-U.S. defense ties in particular have deepened over the years. Bilateral defense trade has reached at about $14 billion. The Malabar naval exercises are a regular annual feature, and India conducts more military exercise with the United States than with any other nation. There is also deeper collaboration on co-production and co-development of defense equipment under the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), which suits the visionary “Make in India” program launched by Modi very well.
Last year, in June, India and the United States renewed their defense framework agreement for another 10 years, when Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited India. Carter attaches great importance to India, which he has called “an anchor of global security,” and has visited several times during his short tenure as U.S. secretary of defense. There is a deeper understanding between both the sides on three foundational defense agreements: the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). The LSA, now in form of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (LEMOA), has been agreed to “in principle“ and is expected to be signed by both nations soon. India and the United States also held their first maritime security dialogue in New Delhi on May 16 this month.
Other than defense and security, India and United States must constantly work closely on all other vital areas as well, as the India-U.S. strategic partnership is very comprehensive and broad-based. On the economic front, efforts must be made to enhance bilateral trade, which is still very low as compared to the vast capabilities and resources of the world’s two largest democratic nations. Both sides must strive hard to take bilateral trade to $500 billion in the years to come, as currently trade is just above $100 billion per year.
Education, agriculture, energy, healthcare, space, science and technology, research and development, and climate change are equally vital areas of cooperation for both nations. These aspects of the strategic partnership must always be given equal importance as defense and security issues; India and the United States must not lose sight of these crucial areas for cooperation at any point. The true potential of this India-U.S. strategic partnership can only be realized when there is wide ranging cooperation in all vital strategic areas. It is of the utmost importance that both nations help in enhancing each other’s capabilities.
The vision for this strategic partnership should be about building secure and prosperous societies and nations as well as the world. It should be focused on enhancing the lives of our peoples, societies, nations, and the world. This forward-looking vision must constantly guide leaders and policymakers of both nations, which will ensure a momentum in the partnership. The India-U.S. strategic partnership, as Obama has said, is set to shape the Asia-Pacific region and the world in the 21st century.
During Obama’s visit to India in January 2015, a remarkable joint statement on the Asia-Pacific region was issued, which indicated the greater commitment of both nations to collaborate and cooperate in the most vital region of the world today. Deeper collaboration between India and the United States in the Asia-Pacific and the elsewhere in the world can only be done if both nations work to enhance each other’s internal strengths and capabilities wherever it is required. This will give them necessary confidence to jointly operate at regional and global levels. While doing so, India and the United States must not convey the message that they are coming together against China. In fact, it must be made amply clear that the India-U.S. strategic partnership is not about containing any third country, but it is about working closely to build a secure and prosperous future for their people, the region, and the world.
The article was originally published in the The Diplomat
This book has been published at a critical juncture: the United States (US) and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are preparing to wind up their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and are engaged in charting out the best possible exit strategy. The US and its NATO allies, along with regional nations around Afghanistan, are deliberating over the best possible way to deal with the Afghan situation after 2014.
This is an interesting book which offers views, insights and analyses of the relations between India and Pakistan through the interviews with top 26 ex-military officials from both the nations. These officers from both the sides held important positions and provided crucial leadership to their respective militaries in the years after the birth of two nations in 1947. The book attempts to explore whether sustainable peace is possible between both the nations and what are the prospects for the resolution of all outstanding issues between the two nations including the Kashmir dispute.
Since there was no clarity about the end goals of this operation, it would have been difficult for the Indian government to communicate and justify its support for this resolution to its domestic constituency.
