India and US talks to focus on Afghan crisis
HUMAN RIGHTS AND CHINA ALSO ON TABLE DURING BLINKEN VISIT
TOP US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived on Tuesday (27) in India for talks dominated by turmoil in Afghanistan and common worries about China, while also touching on New Delhi’s rights record.
Blinken, in his first India visit as secretary of state, was due to meet prime minister Narendra Modi and foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday (28) before flying to Kuwait. US-Indian relations have long been cool, but China’s growing assertiveness pushed them closer, particularly since deadly clashes last year on the disputed Indo-Chinese Himalayan border.
New Delhi is meanwhile alarmed that a possible Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of forces will turn the country into a haven for anti-India extremists. India, a firm backer of the Afghan government which has spent billions on development projects, recently evacuated 50 staff from its Kandahar consulate as the Taliban gains ever more territory.
A top US general said the country will continue air strikes in support of Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, as the insurgents press on with offensives across the country.
Since early May, violence has surged after the insurgents launched a sweeping assault just days after the US-led foreign forces began their final withdrawal, which is almost complete. The Taliban’s deadly assault has seen the insurgents capture scores of districts, border crossings and encircle several provincial capitals.
“The United States has increased air strikes in support of Afghan forces over the last several days, and we are prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks,” General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command, told reporters in Kabul.
McKenzie acknowledged that there were tough days ahead for the Afghan government.
Meanwhile, Indo-US talks in a monsoonsoaked New Delhi will also touch on joint efforts on making Covid-19 vaccines, climate change and, according to US officials, India’s recent human rights record.
Under Modi, India has made growing use of anti-terrorism legislation and “sedition” laws to arrest people, in what critics say is aimed at silencing dissent. The government denies this.
The government has also brought in legislation that detractors say discriminates against India’s 170-million-strong Muslim minority. Modi insists all Indians have equal rights.
The country is proud of its pluralistic traditions and happy to discuss the issue with Blinken, foreign ministry sources said.
Ahead of Blinken’s visit, the State Department said he will discuss India’s human rights record as well as a religion-based citizenship law that the Modi government enacted two years ago that Muslims see as discriminatory.
Indian foreign ministry sources said that issues such as human rights and democracy were universal and extended beyond a particular country or culture. One source said India was a long-standing pluralistic society and was open to engaging with “those who now recognise the value of diversity”.
The sources could not be identified under government policy.
Rights activists claim there is a growing climate of intolerance in India and that the US must lean on the Modi government to uphold diversity and democratic values, especially if the two countries are drawing closer together to confront an authoritarian China.
Dean Thompson, the State Department’s acting assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, told reporters that the US will continue to have conversations with the Indian side on human rights because these were common values for both countries.