Despite the recent controversy over the United States’ proposed sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and India’s denial of visas to members of the US Commission on Religious Freedom, the Obama administration has affirmed its strong relationship with India, specifically with the Narendra Modi Government.
Asked at his Press briefing if the US was not having a smooth rid with India right now because of the flap over the two issues, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said, “No, I would actually disagree with that. I think we have had and we look forward to continuing to have a good, strong relationship with India writ large and with the Modi Government specifically.”
“There are a lot of common issues, common challenges, common threats, quite frankly, that we and the Indian people face,” Kirby admitted, but rejected any negative categorisation of the state of relationship, stressing, “I think we’ve got a good, honest, candid, productive relationship with the Modi Government, and we look forward to that continuing. In fact, we look forward to it deepening.”
Asked if pending issues such as implementation of the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal would be resolved during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming Washington visit, Kirby said: “Obviously, we’re very much looking forward to that and to our ability to participate in it. But I don’t have anything specific with the Indian civil nuclear programme to discuss today.”
On Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken here this week, he said the discussions covered “the full range of issues in the US-India relationship were discussed — economic, political, security”.
He declined to say if the discussions focused on India’s strong objections to the proposed sale of F-16s to Pakistan.
As for the US concerns over India’s denial of visas to members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Kirby said, “We’ve made our concerns known at various levels….We’ve not been bashful or shy about stating our disappointment.”