Mattis in India to boost military ties
new delhi — Stronger military ties between India and the United States should not affect relations with neighbours such as Pakistan, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said ahead of a visit to New Delhi.
The Pentagon chief arrived on Monday for a 48-hour trip — the first to India by any member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet. “This is a historic opportunity for our two democracies at a time of strategic convergence,” Mattis told reporters on his flight. He is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new defence minister in New Delhi.
The trip comes weeks after Trump unveiled a new Afghanistan strategy and urged India to increase assistance to the war-torn nation’s economy.
The US president also chided Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”.
When asked how he would balance the India-Pakistan dynamic,
India from our perspective is clearly a pillar of regional stability and security: we share a common vision for a peaceful and prosperous future in the Indo-Pacific region
Jim Mattis, US Defense Secretary
Mattis stressed that the relationship the US is pursuing with India is “not to the exclusion of other countries”.
“Any nation that is living by the traditional rules of non-interference in other states in today’s age of anti-terrorism, they will not find this relationship in any way adversarial,” he said.
India has long vied with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, building dams, roads and a new parliament in the troubled country. Last year it offered $1 billion in aid.
Trump’s new Afghan strategy includes the deployment of more than 3,000 additional US troops.
In 2016 the US designated India a “major defence partner” with the aim of improving military cooperation, increasing information-sharing and cutting red tape to ease defence deals.
Mattis’s predecessor Ash Carter pushed hard for stronger defence ties and the Trump administration has the same aim.
The two sides will be “discussing joint efforts to advance common goals through a broader strategic exchange of views”, Mattis said.
“India from our perspective is clearly a pillar of regional stability and security: we share a common vision for a peaceful and prosperous future in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Trump has praised India for contributing to regional stability and for buying US military equipment. —