Pomposity Of USA Now Comes Down To Cajoling India On Iran Oil
Seeing that its pompous declaration of sanctions on India, China and Japan had no visible effect on India, the USA is in panic mode once again.
So to seek face saving with India and to turn it away from oil trade with Iran, it is now engaging New Delhi in conversations on issues that impinge on American strategic calculations.
The top official looking after South Asia desk in the US State Department, Alice Wells, is finally in New Delhi for submitting the USA view points to her Indian counterparts on Indo-Pacific and other bilateral issues pinching and pressing USA. Wells will also be travelling to Bhutan for talks with Thimphu with respect to China.
The next visitor to New Delhi will be the US Special Envoy to submit their points and why they would like India to move away from import of oil from Iran.
India is already angry at being left in the cold while a settlement to two decades of violence in Afghanistan appears within grasp.
India has spoken out against toppling the current government in Kabul and replacing it by an interim government.
Every one must know that without India, nothing much can be achieved in Asia in general and Afghanistan in particular.
India has already expressed through its Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale that a governance structure that has worked for 18 years in Afghanistan must not be dismantled, seems to have fallen on deaf ears while the Doha talks with the Taliban were in a full swing.
The US now appears to be course-correcting after the Taliban launched a spring offensive that has killed American soldiers.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s phone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani seems to be vindicating the Indian position.
Randall Schriver, a senior Pentagon official, will arrive next to discuss what all USA is ready to offer in the defence sector and at what cost and to take forward decisions on cooperation arrived at a recently held meeting of the Indo-US Defence Trade and Technology Initiative committee which is working out the modalities of part-production of American defence equipment in India.
