As US bombers last week hit Iran’s Chabahar port, where India has spent over $120mn to develop facilities, and for which US has extended sanctions carve-outs, India’s US challenge came into sharp relief. It’s been simmering for some time. More recently, it’s been attributed to Trump-ian form rather than innate substance. But harsh reality must be confronted: Indian and US strategic interests have substantially diverged.
There is a new Cold War, with multiple major powers jockeying for influence despite deep social and economic linkages. It’s like early-20th century Europe, where rivalries grew despite European royals maintaining relations of blood and marriage. In the present, it does not mean US and India are positioned antagonistically. But then, even in the old Cold War era, Indo-US relations were fruitful.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
