Key recent developments include the rapid growth of India's economy and bilateral trade, the close links between the Indian and American computer and Internet industries, a geopolitical coalition to balance the rise of an increasingly assertive
China, the weakening of
U.S.-Pakistan relations over various ongoing disputes, and the 2008
reversal of long-standing American opposition to India's nuclear program. Today, India and the US share an extensive cultural, strategic, military, and economic relationship.
[3][4][5]
According to
Gallup's annual World Affairs survey, India is perceived by
Americans as their 6th favorite nation in the world, with 71% of Americans viewing India favorably in 2015.
[6] President Barack Obama was the first US president to be the chief guest of the
66th Republic Day celebrations of India held on 26 January 2015.
[7]
History[edit]
To 1947[edit]
Historically, the relationships between India in the days of the
British Raj and the US were thin.
[8] The only significant immigration from India before 1965 involved Sikh farmers going to California in the early 20th century.
[9] Very few American businessmen, tourists, religious seekers or Christian missionaries spent much time in India.
[10]
The religiously curious in the U.S. welcomed the visit of
Swami Vivekananda, who introduced
Yoga and
Vedanta to America at the
World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, in connexion with the
World's Fair there in 1893. He also spoke to large audiences in Chicago and at numerous other venues in 1893-94. He raised some money but won few followers, so he moved on to England.
[11]
World War II[edit]
American GIs at a market in Calcutta (now
Kolkata) in 1945.
Everything changed in World War Two, when India became the main base for the American
China Burma India Theater (CBI) in the war against Japan. Tens of thousands of American servicemen arrived, bringing all sorts of advanced technology, and money; they left in 1945. Serious tension erupted over American demands, led by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, that India be given independence, a proposition Prime Minister
Winston Churchill vehemently rejected. For years Roosevelt had encouraged Britain's disengagement from India. The American position was based on principled opposition to colonialism, practical concern for the outcome of the war, and the expectation of a large American role in a post-colonial era. However, in 1942 when the
Indian National Congress launched a
Quit India movement, the British authorities immediately arrested tens of thousands of activists. Meanwhile India became the main American staging base for aid to China. Churchill threatened to resign if Roosevelt pushed too hard, so Roosevelt backed down.
[15][16]
Post-independence (1947-1997)[edit]
President Harry Truman and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, with Nehru's sister, Madame Pandit, waving from their limousine as they leave Washington National Airport, during Nehru's visit to the United States, 1949.
After
Indian independence and until the end of the
Cold War, the relationship between the US and India was cold and often thorny. This was due to the closeness of the US towards India's arch-rival Pakistan during the War, with Pakistan joining the US-led
Western Bloc in 1954. The relations worsened further with India pursuing a policy of being neutral i.e.
not aligned with either the US or the
Soviet Union, but maintaining close ties with the soviets to counter Pakistan.
In the late 1948s, Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru rejected American suggestions for resolving the Kashmir crisis. His 1949 tour of the US was "an undiplomatic disaster" that left bad feelings on both sides.
[17] India rejected the American advice that it not recognise the Communist conquest of China, but it did back the US when it supported the 1950 United Nations resolution condemning North Korea's aggression in the
Korean War. India tried to act as a broker to help end that war, and served as a conduit for diplomatic messages between the US and China. Meanwhile poor harvests forced India to ask for free American food, which was given starting in 1950.
[18] In the first dozen years of Indian independence (1947–1959), the US provided $1.7 billion in gifts, including $931 million in food. The Soviet Union provided about half as much, largely in the form of steel mills.
[19] In 1961, the US pledged $1.0 billion in development loans, in addition to $1.3 billion of free food.
[20]
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru receiving President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, before the President's address to a joint session of Parliament, 1959.
In 1959,
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first US President to visit India to strengthen the staggering ties between the two nations. He was so supportive that the
New York Times remarked, "It did not seem to matter much whether Nehru had actually requested or been given a guarantee that the US would help India to meet further Chinese Communist aggression. What mattered was the obvious strengthening of Indian-American friendship to a point where no such guarantee was necessary."
[21]
John Kenneth Galbraith (far left), as US ambassador to India, with President John F. Kennedy, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, 1961
During
John F. Kennedy's Presidency (1961–63), India was considered a strategic partner and counterweight to the rise of Communist China. Kennedy said,
"Chinese Communists have been moving ahead the last 10 years. India has been making some progress, but if India does not succeed with her 450 million people, if she can't make freedom work, then people around the world are going to determine, particularly in the underdeveloped world, that the only way they can develop their resources is through the Communist system."
The
Kennedy administration openly supported India during the
1962 Sino-Indian war and considered the Chinese action as "blatant Chinese Communist aggression against India".
[22][23] The
United States Air Force flew in arms, ammunition and clothing supplies to the Indian troops and the
United States Navy even sent the
USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier from the
Pacific Ocean to protect India, only to recall it back before it reached the
Bay of Bengal.
[24][25] In a May 1963
National Security Council meeting, the United States discussed contingency planning that could be implemented in the event of another Chinese attack on India.
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and General
Maxwell Taylor advised the president to use
nuclear weapons should the Americans intervene in such a situation. Kennedy insisted that Washington defend India as it would any ally, saying, "We
should defend India, and therefore we
will defend India."
[26][27] Kennedy's ambassador to India was the noted liberal economist
John Kenneth Galbraith, who was considered close to India.
[28] While in India, Galbraith helped establish one of the first Indian computer science departments, at the
Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. As an economist, he also presided over the (at the time) largest US foreign aid program to any country.
President Nixon at the arrival ceremony for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on the South Lawn of the White House, 1971.
Following the
assassination of Kennedy in 1963, Indo-US relations deteriorated gradually. While US President
Lyndon Johnson sought to maintain relations with India to counter Communist China,
[29] he also sought to strengthen with ties with Pakistan with the hopes of easing tensions with China and weakening India's growing military buildup as well.
[29] Relations then hit an all time low under the
Nixon administration in the early 1970s, as the President began to shift away from the neutral stance which his predecessors had taken towards Indo-Pakistani hostilities.
Richard Nixon established a very close relationship with Pakistan, aiding it militarily and economically, as India, now under the leadership of
Indira Gandhi, was seen as leaning towards the Soviet Union. He considered Pakistan as a very important ally to counter Soviet influence in the Indian subcontinent and establish ties with China, with whom Pakistan was very close.
[30] The frosty relationship between Nixon and Indira worsened the relations further.
[31] During the
1971 Indo-Pakistani War, the US openly supported Pakistan and even deployed its aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise towards the Bay of Bengal, which was seen as a show of force by the US in support of the beleaguered
West Pakistani forces. Later in 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test,
Smiling Buddha, which was opposed by the US, however it also concluded that the test did not violate any agreement and proceeded with a June 1974 shipment of
enriched uranium for the
Tarapur reactor.
[32][33]
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, at far left, President of India, with President Jimmy Carter, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Prime Minister Morarji Desai and External Affairs Minister A.B. Vajpayee, 1978
In the late 1970s, with the anti-Soviet
Janata Party leader
Morarji Desai becoming the Prime Minister, India improved its relations with the US, now led by
Jimmy Carter, despite the latter signing an order in 1978 barring nuclear material from being exported to India due to the latter's non-proliferation record.
[34]
After the return of Indira Gandhi to power in 1980 and the
Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the relations between the two countries improved. The Reagan Administration decided to provide limited assistance to India. India sounded out Washington on the purchase of a range of US defence technology, including F-5 aircraft, super computers, night vision goggles and radars. In 1984 Washington approved the supply of selected technology to India including gas turbines for naval frigates and engines for prototypes for India’s light combat aircraft. There were also unpublicised transfers of technology, including the engagement of a US company, Continental Electronics, to design and build a new VLF communications station at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, which was commissioned in the late 1980s.
[35]
In the 1990s there was a significant effort by both countries to improve relations with each other.
[36]
1998-2008[edit]
Soon after
Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Indian Prime Minister, he authorised
nuclear weapons testing at
Pokhran. The United States strongly condemned this testing, promised sanctions, and voted in favour of a
United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning the tests. President
Bill Clinton imposed
economic sanctions on India, including cutting off all military and economic aid, freezing loans by American banks to state-owned Indian companies, prohibiting loans to the Indian government for all except food purchases, prohibiting American aerospace technology and uranium exports to India, and requiring the US to oppose all loan requests by India to international lending agencies.
[37] However, these sanctions proved ineffective - India was experiencing a strong economic rise, and its trade with the US only constituted a small portion of its
GDP. Only
Japan joined the US in imposing direct sanctions, while most other nations continued to trade with India. The sanctions were soon lifted. Afterward, the Clinton administration and Prime Minister Vajpayee exchanged representatives to help rebuild relations. In March 2000, U.S. President
Bill Clinton visited India, undertaking bilateral and economic discussions with Prime Minister Vajpayee. During the visit, the
Indo-US Science & Technology Forum was established.
[38]
Over the course of improved diplomatic relations with the Bush Administration, India agreed to allow close international monitoring of its nuclear weapons development, although it has refused to give up its current nuclear arsenal.
[39] In 2004, the US decided to grant
Major non-NATO ally (MNNA) status to Pakistan. The US extended the MNNA strategic working relationship to India but the offer was turned down.
[40][41]
Former US Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld and former US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice made recent visits to India as well in 2005. The United States and India also signed a bilateral Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation in 2005.
[43] After
Hurricane Katrina, India donated $5 million to the
American Red Cross and sent two planeloads of relief supplies and materials to help.
[44] Then, on 1 March 2006, President Bush made another diplomatic visit to further expand relations between India and the US.
[45]
21st century[edit]
India emerged in the 21st century as increasingly vital to core US foreign policy interests. India, a dominant actor in its region, and the home of more than one billion citizens, is now often characterised as a nascent Great Power and an "indispensable partner" of the US, one that many analysts view as a potential counterweight to the growing clout of
China. Since 2004, Washington and New Delhi have been pursuing a "strategic partnership" that is based on shared values and generally convergent geopolitical interests. Numerous economic, security, and global initiatives - including plans for civilian nuclear cooperation - are underway. This latter initiative, first launched in 2005, reversed three decades of American non-proliferation policy. Also in 2005, the United States and India signed a ten-year defence framework agreement, with the goal of expanding bilateral security cooperation. The two countries now engage in numerous and unprecedented combined military exercises, and major US arms sales to India have gotten under way. The value of all bilateral trade tripled from 2004 to 2008 and continues to grow, while significant two-way investment also grows and flourishes.
[46] The influence of a large Indian-American community is reflected in the largest country-specific caucus in the
United States Congress, while between 2009-2010 more than 100,000 Indian students have attended American colleges and universities.
[47]
Between 2004 and 2014 Western
think-tanks, especially in the US and UK, failed to foresee the swing in electoral voting patterns of the growing middle-class and anticipate the scale of political change in India brought about by improvements in basic education and freedom of the press. According to Michael Kugelman, South and Southeast Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the US was unprepared to meet new challenges in India because of its ”inability to keep pace with the transformations.”
[51]
June 2010 Strategic Dialogue[edit]
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Indian delegation at the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue reception at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., 2010.
In June 2010, the United States and India formally re-engaged the US-India Strategic Dialogue initiated under President Bush when a large delegation of high-ranking Indian officials, led by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, visited
Washington, D.C. As leader of the US delegation, Secretary of State Clinton lauded India as "an indispensable partner and a trusted friend".
[52] President Obama appeared briefly at a
United States Department of State reception to declare his firm belief that America "will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century."
[53] The Strategic Dialogue produced a joint statement in which the two countries pledged to "deepen people-to-people, business-to-business, and government-to-government linkages ... for the mutual benefit of both countries and for the promotion of global peace, stability, economic growth and prosperity."
[54] It outlined extensive bilateral initiatives in each of ten key areas: (1) advancing global security and countering terrorism, (2) disarmament and nonproliferation, (3) trade and economic relations, (4) high technology, (5) energy security, clean energy, and climate change, (6) agriculture, (7) education, (8) health, (9) science and technology, and (10) development.
[55]
Foreign policy issues[edit]
According to some analysts, India-US relations have been strained over the Obama administration's approach to Pakistan and the handling of the
Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
[56][57] India's
National Security Adviser,
M.K. Narayanan, criticised the Obama administration for linking the
Kashmir dispute to the instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and said that by doing so, President Obama was "barking up the wrong tree."
[58] Foreign Policy in February 2009 also criticised Obama's approach to South Asia, saying that "India can be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem" in South Asia. It also suggested that India take a more proactive role in rebuilding
Afghanistan, irrespective of the attitude of the Obama Administration.
[59] In a clear indication of growing rift between the two countries, India decided not to accept a US invitation to attend a conference on Afghanistan at the end of February 2009.
[60] Bloomberg has also reported that, since the
2008 Mumbai attacks, the public mood in India has been to pressure Pakistan more aggressively to take actions against the culprits behind the terrorist attack, and that this might reflect on the upcoming
Indian general elections in May 2009. Consequently, the Obama Administration may find itself at odds with India's rigid stance against terrorism.
[61]
India and US governments have differed on a variety of regional issues ranging from India's cordial relations with Iran, Russia and Sri Lanka to foreign policy disagreements relating to Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
India criticised the Obama Administration's decision to limit
H-1B (temporary) visas, and India's then External Affairs Minister
Pranab Mukherjee (Now the
President of India) said that his country would oppose US "
protectionism" at various international forums.
[64] India's Commerce Minister,
Kamal Nath, said that India may move against Obama's outsourcing policies at the
World Trade Organization.
[65] However, the outsourcing advisory head of
KPMG said that India had no reason to worry, since Obama's statements were directed against "outsourcing being carried out by manufacturing companies" and not outsourcing of
IT-related services.
[66]
In May 2009, Obama reiterated his anti-outsourcing views and criticised the current US tax policy "that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York."
[67] However, during the
US India Business Council meeting in June 2009,
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advocated for stronger economic ties between India and the United States. She also rebuked protectionist policies, saying that "[United States] will not use the global financial crisis as an excuse to fall back on protectionism. We hope India will work with us to create a more open, equitable set of opportunities for trade between our nations."
[68]
In November 2010, Obama became the second US President (after
Richard Nixon in 1969) to undertake a visit to India in his first term in office. On 8 November, Obama also became the second US President (after Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959) to ever address a
joint session of the
Parliament of India. In a major policy shift, Obama declared US support for India's
permanent membership on the UN Security Council.
[69][70] Calling the India-US relationship "a defining partnership of the 21st century", he also announced the removal of export control restrictions on several Indian companies, and concluded trade deals worth $10 billion, which are expected to create and/or support 50,000 jobs in the US.
[71]
Strategic and military relations[edit]
In March 2009, the Obama Administration cleared the US$2.1 billion sale of eight
P-8 Poseidons to India.
[72] This deal, and the $5 billion agreement to provide
Boeing C-17 military transport aircraft and
General Electric F414 engines announced during Obama's November 2010 visit, makes the US one of the top three military suppliers to India (after Israel and Russia).
[73] Indians have raised concerns about contract clauses forbidding the offensive deployment of these systems.
[74] India is trying to resolve performance-related issues on the Boeing P-8I that have already been delivered to India.
[75][76]
US
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has encouraged stronger military ties between India and the United States, and said that "India has emerged as an increasingly important strategic partner [of the US]".
[77] US Undersecretary of State
William Joseph Burns also said, "Never has there been a moment when India and America mattered more to each other."
[78] The Deputy Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, during his address to the Asia Society in New York on August 1, 2012, said that India–US relationship has a global scope, in terms of the reach and influence of both countries. He also said that both countries are strengthening the relations between their defence and research organisations.
[79]
Harsh V. Pant, professor of International relations at King's College London, highlighted the importance of India to US strategic planning by saying: "India is key to the US’ ability to create a stable balance of power in the larger Indo-Pacific and at a time of resource constraints, it needs partners like India to shore up its sagging credibility in the region in face of Chinese onslaught.” Neelam Deo, director of foreign policy at Gateway House, underscored the importance that India attaches safeguarding its national interests by saying: “India is a big country, with its own strategic objectives and imperatives and it will act on opportunities where interests converge, as it has done in the past.”
[51] There have also been calls for strengthening the trilateral relationship between India, Israel and United States in view of the many common challenges - such as threat from external terrorists - that the three nations encounter.
[80]
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