US, India sign defense agreement amid divisive issues.

On 6 September, the United States and India signed a major military communications agreement during a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to New Delhi, amid a series of divisive issues, the Daily Times (India) reports. Thursday’s meeting was supposed to be held in Washington but was postponed twice by the Trump administration.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, New Delhi, India, Sept. 6.  (Photo: Lisa Ferdinando/DoD)

Pompeo and Mattis were in India for their first joint meeting with their Indian counterparts, amid Washington’s demands that India stop buying Iranian oil and a Russian S-400 Triumph air-defense system, and news reports that President Donald Trump had privately mimicked the accent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But with trade and strategic ties growing quickly between the US and India, both countries have been keen to downplay potential diplomatic troubles. The agreement, which had been under discussion for more than a decade, will allow India to receive military-grade communications equipment from the United States and permit the exchange of real-time encrypted information on platforms used by the Indian and US armed forces.

The relationship between the United States and India has entered ‘a new era’, Pompeo said, adding that Thursday’s meeting was “symbolic of our increasingly close partnership.” At a grand strategic level, both the United States and India are eager to develop closer ties. Sales of US military equipment to India have increased considerably over the past decade, and the United States is now India’s second-largest arms supplier. The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement, signed Thursday by Mattis and his Indian counterpart, is a type of foundational accord that the United States uses as a framework for military cooperation with other countries. India had hesitated to conclude the agreement partly out of worries about the United States getting access to Indian military communications. “If the Indian establishment is willing to move forward with politically tricky but operationally meaningful agreements, I take that as a good sign,” said Joshua White, who served as a senior adviser on South Asian affairs at the National Security Council under the Obama administration.

Indeed, India’s defense minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, sounded ebullient about the prospects for further collaboration. Defense cooperation “has emerged as the most significant dimension of our strategic partnership and a key driver of our overall bilateral relationship,” she said Thursday. The momentum in that arena has “imbued a tremendous positive energy” to U.S.-India relations, she said.

But in realms apart from defense, the relationship has progressed more haltingly. India is one of many targets in President Trump’s crusade to reduce the US trade deficit, and the two countries have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs. The Trump administration is pushing India to increase its imports of US goods and to drastically reduce its purchases of Iranian oil or face sanctions. Many countries, including India, “are in a place where it takes them a little bit of time to unwind” oil imports from Iran, he said. “We’ll work with them, I’m sure, to find an outcome that makes sense.” The Trump administration has withdrawn from a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and is reimposing nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal.

Pompeo also said the United States would work with India on another area of concern – India’s upcoming purchase of a Russian missile and air-defense system known as the S-400. The purchase will violate sanctions instituted by Congress on arms purchases from Russia, but lawmakers have allowed the possibility of a presidential waiver. Pompeo said no decision has been made on whether to grant India a waiver. But “we do understand the history of India’s relationship with Russia,” he said. “Our effort here is not to penalize great strategic partners like India.”