India-US 2+2 dialogue postponed again

Delay entirely unrelated to bilateral relationship: US

The US had recently conveyed to India that it has postponed the ‘2+2 dialogue’ between the two sides due to “unavoidable reasons” and expressed regret. The India-US ‘2+2 dialogue’ was to be held on July 6, and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman were to travel to the US to take part in the meeting with US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis.

Following the announcement, Joshua T. White, a former Obama administration official said, “The postponement of the 2+2 talks is “unfortunate and more than a little embarrassing for the United States”.

“But frankly I’m more worried that the growing cascade of disputes surrounding trade and investment will slowly sap momentum from this very important relationship,” White, currently a fellow at the Edwin O Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said.

Michael Kugelman from the Wilson Center tweeted, “Safe to say that USIndia relations have taken their “biggest tumble” in quite some time.” “In the Trump era, no US relationship is foolproof,” he said. “This is really big. 2+2 could have been used to reset a relationship experiencing growing tensions on the side,” he tweeted.

On Thursday however, the US said that the postponement of the ‘2+2 dialogue’ with India was prompted by reasons entirely unrelated to the bilateral relationship.

“The delay in that meeting was completely unrelated to India. The time and location are being rescheduled now. It will happen soon,” said Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN who was in India for a visit focused on advancing US-India relationship. However experts say that it was “unfortunate” and “more than a little embarrassing” for the Trump administration.