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U.S.-India Relations Career Foreign Service Officer and current Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake spoke recently at the American Enterprise Institute on the immediate future of U.S.-India relations. Blake foresees a “convergence of interests” and a growing and broader “strategic partnership” between the two countries. He briefly alluded to the strained relations between the United States and India during the Cold War, and praised both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations for making progress in our relationship with India in the aftermath of the Cold War. Blake sees our interests converging in global security matters, economics and trade, civil nuclear cooperation, and science and technology. U.S. trade with India has doubled in the past five years, and investment flows have increased. People-to-people ties are strong, too. Blake did not, however, discuss the geopolitical aspect of the relationship, particularly as it relates to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. The Indian Ocean region is fast becoming the geographical pivot area of the twenty-first century, but Blake was silent about this important development. Blake knows India and the region well, having served as deputy chief of mission in Delhi during 2003-2006 and at other Foreign Service posts in the area. Only time will tell whether he is correct in his assertion that the United States and India are “natural allies.” |
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