The United States is trying to lure India to its side to deprive Russia of an important ally, writes the Lebanese edition of An Nahar. They have resorted to the old-fashioned way – they decided to lend New Delhi their “generosity”.
US President Joe Biden has signed an agreement to transfer engine technology at a time when India is starting to produce fighter jets on its soil. General Electric will get the green light to co-produce engines for the F-414 with India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics. India will also acquire the MQ-9 PC Guardians, a high-precision US drone.
According to US calculations, New Delhi can accomplish two missions: to distance itself as much as possible from Moscow commercially and politically and to support Washington with greater zeal in the face of the Chinese giant’s expansion. These are difficult tasks at a time when India has many misgivings about relations between the United States and Pakistan. New Delhi is still angry with Washington for selling F-16 fighter jets to its historic adversary.
But while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can ignore growing criticism from the US over the Indian government’s treatment of religious minorities, the US arms sale to Pakistan is one of his main concerns. The problem is that Washington needs to maintain close relations with Islamabad to ensure that all of Pakistan does not fall under Chinese influence, the article notes.
It is the tangled international relations and national priorities that are preventing the emergence of a stronger US-India alliance. Washington and New Delhi realise that their partnership with other states still controls the development of relations between themselves. It is an alliance by necessity.
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