US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will embark on his first South Asia visit as America’s top diplomat next week, days after delivering a gung-ho speech, declaring the Trump Administration’s intent to “dramatically deepen” the US-India strategic relations.
While projecting the US as a “reliable partner” of India, Tillerson had come down hard on China for undermining international law and norms, particularly its provocative actions in the South China Sea. He had also sought to make it clear to Pakistan that the US expects it to take “decisive action” against terrorism, terming it the “obligation, not choice, of every civilised nation”.
Tillerson will be visiting both India and Pakistan, a country with which Washington otherwise appears to be suddenly in a mood to mend fences following Islamabad’s calculated help in securing the release of a US-Canadian family held captive by the Taliban for five years.
The release had prompted President Donald Trump to thank Islamabad and go on to say that the US was “starting to develop a much better relationship with Pakistan and its leaders”.
Tillerson’s own comments on Pakistan would have come as a mixed bag for New Delhi. Even while making it clear that Washington expects Islamabad to take “decisive action” against terrorism, he sought to cast both India and Pakistan as “important elements” in the US policy to stabilize South Asia.
Announcing the visit, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday that Tillerson would first be travelling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday and then to Doha, Qatar before arriving in Islamabad and then in New Delhi next week.
In New Delhi, Tillerson will hold consultations with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other government leaders over “implementation of the ideas he outlined yesterday (October 18) in his speech at CSIS defining our relationship with India for the next century”.
The Secretary’s India visit will advance the ambitious agenda laid out by President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Prime Ministers visit to the White House in June, she said.
“There’s a lot of work that we can do together with India,” Nauert said and referred to the joint military exercises, and intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation.
In Islamabad, Nauert said the Secretary will meet with senior Pakistani leaders to “discuss our continued bilateral cooperation, Pakistan’s critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy, and the expanding economic ties between our two countries”.
“In meetings with the (Pakistani) prime minister, foreign minister, and senior military officials, Secretary Tillerson will discuss our joint efforts to fight terrorist groups that threaten regional peace and stability and how Pakistan can support our effort to reach a peaceful solution in Afghanistan,” Nauert said.