India-United States Relations - Ties Under The Obama Administration (2009-present)

Ties Under The Obama Administration (2009-present)

Just days into President Barack Obama’s term, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and India’s External Affairs Minister agreed to "further strengthen the excellent bilateral relationship" between the two countries. Soon afterward, President Obama issued a statement asserting that, "Our rapidly growing and deepening friendship with India offers benefits to all the worlds citizens", and that the people of India "should know they have no better friend and partner than the people of the United States." As part of her confirmation hearing, Hillary Clinton told US senators she would work to fulfill President Obama’s commitment to "establish a true strategic partnership with India, increase our military cooperation, trade, and support democracies around the world."

Despite such top-level assurances from the new US Administration, during 2009 and into 2010, many in India became increasingly concerned that Washington was not focusing on the bilateral relationship with the same vigor as did the previous. Many concerns arose in New Delhi that the Obama Administration was overly focused on US relations with China in ways that would reduce India’s influence and visibility. In addition, the government of India was concerned that America was intent on deepening relations with India’s main rival, Pakistan, in ways that could be harmful to Indian security and perhaps lead to a more interventionist approach to the Kashmir problem, that a new US emphasis on nuclear nonproliferation and arms control would lead to pressure on India to join such multilateral initiatives as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty, and that the Administration might pursue (so-called) protectionist economic policies that could adversely affect bilateral commerce in goods and services.

New Delhi has also long sought the removal of Indian companies and organizations from US export control lists, seeing these as discriminatory and outdated. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake contends that much progress has been made in this area, with less than one-half of one percent of all exports to India requiring any license.

India also continued to seek explicit US support for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. However, the Obama Administration said it recognized a "need to reassess institutions of global governance", and asserted that India’s rise "will certainly be a factor in any future consideration of reform" of that Council.

Secretary of State Clinton was widely seen to have concluded a successful visit to India in July 2009, inking several agreements, making important symbolic points by staying at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel (site of a major Islamist terrorist attack in 2008), and having a high-profile meeting with women’s groups. While in New Delhi, Clinton set forth five "key pillars" of the US-India engagement: (1) strategic cooperation, (2) energy and climate change, (3) economics, trade, and agriculture, (4) education and development, and (5) science, technology, and innovation.

In November 2009, President Obama hosted an inaugural state visit with Prime Minister Singh at the White House. Despite its important symbolism, the resulting diplomacy was seen by many proponents of closer ties as disappointing (if not an outright failure) in its outcome, at least to the extent that no "breakthroughs" in the bilateral relationship were announced. Yet from other perspectives there were visible ideational gains: the relationship was shown to transcend the preferences of any single leader or government, the two leaders demonstrated that their mutual strategic goals were increasingly well-aligned, and plans were made to continue taking advantage of complementarities, with differences being well-managed. Perhaps most significantly, the visit itself contributed to ameliorating concerns in India that the Obama Administration was insufficiently attuned to India’s potential role as a US partner.

President Obama’s May 2010 National Security Strategy noted that, "The United States and India are building a strategic partnership that is underpinned by our shared interests, our shared values as the world’s two largest democracies, and close connections among our people," and

"Working together through our Strategic Dialogue and high-level visits, we seek a broad-based relationship in which India contributes to global counterterrorism efforts, nonproliferation, and helps promote poverty reduction, education, health, and sustainable agriculture. We value India’s growing leadership on a wide array of global issues, through groups such as the G-20, and will seek to work with India to promote stability in South Asia and elsewhere in the world."