Confident New Delhi must come out of its shell
It's good that India and the United States have finally endorsed ‘in principle' a logistics support agreement that paves the way for the two nations' Armed Forces to use each other's military bases in an extensive manner in peace-time situations. This win-win deal had been pending for the last 10 years, with the Congress-led UPA Government demonstrating needless hesitation. The caution did not emanate from any strategic interest design but was a result of over-sensitivity to what neighbours such as China would make of the arrangement. The UPA regime was worried that India would be seen as a frontline ally of the US, or even as a satellite of sorts to the US, if it accepted the lSA. This silly concern extended to ridiculous extents, such as when the Government had blocked US attempts to recover the remains of its soldiers who had died when their bomber plane had crashed in Arunachal Pradesh in 1944. New Delhi had fretted over what the Chinese would think of US boots in Arunachal Pradesh, many parts of whose region they claim as their own. The Narendra Modi Government has done the right thing in allowing the US to recover the remains and help in some form of closure to the family of the dead. With this and the acceptance in principle of providing extended logistics support, the Union Government has demonstrated its readiness to write a new script vis-à-vis India-US defence cooperation. But there is still a lot to be done in the bilateral, and New Delhi can and should proceed with those decisions keeping in mind the country's larger national interest. A confident and an unapologetic nation need not keep looking over its shoulders to push for what is good for its geo-strategic needs. For example, the lSA, by putting logistical issues regarding refuelling and payments etc on auto-pilot, will make it easier for Indian and American militaries to coordinate with each other during war exercises, which are crucial to ensuring that the world's busiest sea lanes remain free and open for business, and during large-scale multi-national humanitarian aid operations. The big concern about the lSA was that it could become problematic for India if the US went to war against a country that is friendly with New Delhi. This seems to have been resolved in the amended lSA, now known as the logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement, which allows India to maintain its veto in such situations.
The agreement needs to be signed at the earliest. Possibly, the Modi Government is taking an incremental approach so that it can test the waters. This is fine, as long as it does not become an excuse for another bout of endless delay. Additionally, the Government should seriously consider two other documents relating to communications and geo-spatial cooperation. Along with the lSA, they make up the three foundational pacts the US has been wanting India to sign. The opposition to both these documents stems from fear and some level of mistrust. Such concerns are largely misplaced, and dwarfed by the benefits that India stands to gain by cooperating with the US, be it in terms of asserting its own credentials as a regional humanitarian aid provider, a leading power in the Indian Ocean or in being a positive counter-balance to China.