First Trump-Modi meet plants seeds of hope. Will the tree now sproutIJ
A warm handshake, an affectionate hug or two, and convergence on combating terrorism: These three terms best sum up the very first meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. The first can be seen as a courtesy and the second as optics, but the third is definitely substantial and in keeping with New Delhi's expectations from the Trump Administration. Modi had set the pace for the focus that he wanted, when, in an address to the Indian community before meeting President Trump, he said that India would not hesitate to take strong measures to fight terrorism, such as the surgical strikes its Army had carried out in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir last year. Prime Minister Modi added that nothing in the world could stop India from adopting the most stringent steps to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. In making these remarks, Modi of course had his audience — immediately before him and back in India — in mind, but the Americans picked the signals. And so, hours before the Trump-Modi meet, the US State Department designated Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist. The joint statement between India and the US, subsequent to the two leaders' interaction, carried this sentiment forward. It called upon Pakistan, from where Salahuddin operates, to “expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot and other cross-border terrorist attacks perpetrated by Pakistan-based groups”. If these initial indications are to be believed, then the Trump regime appears determined to go beyond the symbolicism that previous administrations had demonstrated, in taking Pakistan to task for fomenting terror in the neighbourhood. Besides, the commitment of the two leaders “to prevent terrorist travel and to disrupt global recruitment efforts by expanding intelligence-sharing and operational- level counter-terrorism cooperation”, demonstrates that both nations are prepared to take the next big step in countering terrorism. But these are early days yet and we must hold our horses for the moment. Strong words had been spoken before by Washington, DC, but they were not translated into action against Islamabad — not even after Osama bin laden was found to be sheltered in Pakistan and eliminated by the US Special Forces. However, scepticism need not altogether dampen optimism. let’s not forget that this was the very first meeting between Modi and Trump and not much was expected out of it.
Defence was the other area the two countries concentrated upon, and, like in the case of terrorism, there is a vast extent of commonality on the issue between Washington, DC and New Delhi. Defence, along with the anti-terrorism campaign, is part of the India-US strategic partnership, and this is evident by the US's offer to sell us advanced drones. Given that the US has so far not sold them to any non-Nato nation, the gesture shows the level of trust between the two. All of this provides the momentum to sort out the really contentious issues — that of trade and commerce. There are divergences here but not of the kind that cannot be resolved, with firm will prevailing on both sides.