New Delhi, Feb 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s just-concluded visit to the US was a “big success” that will further cement ties between the two nations, said several former Indian diplomats as they welcome Washington’s move to extradite 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana to India.
Modi and US President Donald Trump held wide-ranging talks on February 13.
After concluding his visit to the US, Modi, in a post on X said he had an “excellent” meeting with President Trump and their discussions “will add significant momentum to India-USA friendship”.
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Foreign policy experts, think tanks and several former diplomats have closely watched this visit which came a little over three weeks after the January 20 inauguration of Trump.
Venu Rajamony, who served as India’s ambassador to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020, termed the visit “a big success by any standards”.
“The joint statement makes a very impressive reading… The emphasis is on future-focussed partnership,” he told PTI on Saturday.
India and the US have decided to take a big leap in broad-basing their strategic ties in several critical areas, with President Donald Trump announcing after talks with Prime Minister Modi that Washington is paving the way to provide New Delhi with F-35 fighter jets as part of increasing military supplies by billions of dollars.
The two leaders also launched the INDUS Innovation bridge which is modelled after the successful INDUS-X platform for defence applications. Indus Innovation is meant to focus on space, energy and other emerging technologies.
On Trump engaging with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rajamony claimed that “the end of the war is near, but it going to be settled on Russia’s terms”.
Asked, if India will be watching this development, he said, “New Delhi has no option but to watch it closely and to respond to it and react as things emerge. In the meantime, we are focused on building our bilateral relationship.”
According to the joint statement issued by the White House, the two leaders launched a new initiative — the US-India COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” — to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation.
“They announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and Stryker infantry combat vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defence requirements,” it said.
“Defence enjoys a prime of place within the relationship and it is more than the purchases. What is important is technology cooperation,” Rajamony said, adding that an Autonomous System Industry Alliance (ASIA) has been launched.
Many other diplomats also underlined the ‘Mission 500’ announced during Modi’s visit which aims to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.
It is an ambitious target and only private sectors can make it happen and it is not for the government to dictate how trade will go, the former Indian ambassador said.
“The extant and range of India-US relations is very vast. Successive governments in India and the US have built and expanded this relationship. So, what we see now is a climax of a long period of activities,” he said.
It is good that both leaders have affirmed their commitment to taking it forward, the former diplomat asserted.
“In particular, the extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India is also a welcome measure and the decision to increase counter-terrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing,” he added.
On the decision to extradite Rana, former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said it sends a “clear message of shared resolve of two democracies to combat terrorism and hold those who are responsible for such heinous acts, for which we want to hold them accountable and responsible”.
“It aligns with deepening strategic partnership between the US and India, especially in defence and counter-terrorism. It reinforces mutual trust, obviously this decision,” she said.
India’s former ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar said he was glad that the “US has recognised the importance of sending back Tahawwur Rana so that he can face justice”.
India and the US have been collaborating proactively in counter-terrorism areas and it was emphasised in the joint press conference in Washington too.
On the reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump, the former diplomat said it was “not related” to PM Modi’s visit. “It was only coincidental and incidental that reciprocal tariffs were announced” when PM Modi was there, Sajjanhar told PTI.
On the trade front, Sajjanhar emphasised that both leaders have agreed to “proactively engage in negotiations so that we get the first tranche of a bilateral trade deal by this fall”. (PTI)
