It’s with a large work agenda that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet their US counterparts, Secretary of State Mike R Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis, for the first 2+2 dialogue. After being deferred twice, the meet is taking place on September 6—the atmospherics too are right.
The sense of a US tilt towards India, away from traditional ally Pakistan, is borne out by the backdrop. Pentagon has made clear the US military’s decision to withhold $300 million from the Coalition Support Funds to Pakistan. This aid cut, if approved by Congress, would add up to $800 million. $500 million was slashed earlier this year, signalling the Trump administration’s increasing frustration with Islamabad over its double standards in Afghanistan. The new Pakistan establishment derides this as a ‘sop to India’.
But New Delhi has far greater issues to fret over. Defence acquisitions worth `46,000 crore or more have either been cleared or shortlisted. It’s a long list: for the Indian Navy, there’s the Multi-role Helicopters, with anti-submarine capabilities, among other choppers. There’s talks on a system designed to give New Delhi cover from nuclear missile attacks. But a lot of the discussions will hew around the details of a legal framework that will further tie our forces together: the Communication Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) that enables “inter-operability” between the strategic partners.
This is where India needs to cover the ground with abundant caution. Concern has been expressed about the possibility of COMCASA ending up being an intrusive mechanism that could render sensitive networks vulnerable. The agreement is vital for crucial high-grade technology transfer, but the Indian legal team must go through it with a fine tooth comb. New Delhi also needs to stand up to the bulldozing CAATSA law. It can jeopardise neither immediate defence acquisitions from Russia, for instance, nor its independent non-aligned position. Swaraj and Sitharaman have to navigate these waters skilfully.
