Although it has laid itself open to accusations of endless posturing for a long time on the question of granting a US visa to Narendra Modi before his massive electoral victory, the Obama administration has denied that it failed to reach out to the Bharatiya Janata Party well ahead of the elections or that it put all the eggs in one (Congress) basket.
The State Department spokesman rejected the notion that Washington picked one party or individual to support, asserting that its envoy in New Delhi did engage with all the parties in the run-up to the general elections.
Asked at a news briefing if Washington had made a mistake by putting all the eggs in one basket and failed to reach out to the BJP, deputy spokesperson Marie Harf: “I would take exception with the notion that we somehow picked a party or picked someone to support. That’s just not the case. We engage with a broad section of Indian politics and Indian society.”
Harf said that in the run-up to the election, US Ambassador Nancy Powell was “on the ground engaging with all the parties”, including the BJP. Her apparent reference was to Powell’s meeting with Modi in Gandhinagar in February.
When the reporter persisted with the question if the US would learn anything from its handling of this matter, Harf shot back: “I’m disagreeing with your notion that we did.”
Asked about the terrorist attack on the Indian consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, she drew attention to the US Embassy statement, condemning the attack and noting that Indian and Afghan security forces performed courageously in dealing with it.
“Obviously, we are concerned about these kind of situations, and we’ll keep working with folks there on the security situation,” she said, noting: “Afghanistan is still in many respects a dangerous place. We have people who serve there – both U.S. officials and also private citizens – who do so like Indian citizens do, at risk, because they believe it’s important. So one thing we’re focused on is, even as we transition to a different period with our efforts in Afghanistan, to keep working on security, to keep trying to build Afghanistan’s own capabilities to keep their own people and people working there secure. But it’s absolutely a tough place to work.”
As for India’s likely role in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, Harf commented: “I think I would let Mr. Modi speak for what his own policies will be in Afghanistan.”