Biden, Modi Bilateral: About Democratic Values, Pakistan and Afghanistan
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
At his first bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House Friday, that covered issues such as defence cooperation, trade, climate change, Covid-19 vaccines and also discussions on the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “the seeds have been sown for an even stronger friendship between India and the US”. President Biden said both leaders “are launching a new chapter in history of India-US ties, taking on some of the toughest challenges we face together, starting with a shared commitment”.
‘Democratic values’: Biden emphasised that the relationship between India and the US is “destined to be stronger, closer and tighter” and that the partnership is about a “shared responsibility to uphold democratic values” and their “joint commitment to diversity”.
“I think that the relationship between India and the United States, the largest democracies in the world, is destined to be stronger, closer and tighter, and I believe it can benefit the whole world,” Biden said.
“Of course our partnership is more than just what we do. It’s about who we are…It’s about our shared responsibility to uphold democratic values, our joint commitment to diversity, and it’s about family ties, including four million Indian Americans who make the United States stronger every single day,” he said.
Biden said they are launching a “new chapter in the history of India-US ties”, taking on some of the “toughest challenges we face together, starting with a shared commitment”.
PM Modi’s response
‘Transformative period’: PM Modi said in response that the next decade will be a “transformative period” in India-US relations, and referred to “democratic values, traditions to which both countries are committed” and said the “importance of these traditions will only increase further”.
Outlining a decade-long vision of bilateral ties, Modi said: “I find that under your leadership the seeds have been sown for Indo-US relations to expand, and for all democratic countries in the world, this is going to be a transformative period. I can see that very clearly.”
Democratic ‘traditions’: While speaking about democratic “traditions”, Modi also talked about talent. “There are more than four million Indian Americans who are participating in the journey of progress of America. When I look at the importance of this decade, and the role that is going to be played by this talent of the Indian Americans, I find that the people to people talent will play a greater role and Indian talent will be a full partner in this relationship. And I see that your contribution is going to be very important in this,” he said.
‘Technology’: Speaking about “technology”, Modi said “the most important driving force in the world today would be that of technology and the technology that is going to be for the service and for the use of humanity. I find that opportunities for this are going to be tremendous.” India and the US have been partners in the defence, security and nuclear sectors.
‘Trade’: The Prime Minister also touched upon the issue of trade, which has been a challenge between the two countries, and spoke about its “complementary” nature. “Between India and the United States, trade will continue to assume importance, and we find that the trade between our two countries is actually complementary. There are things that you have and there are things that we have, and then we in fact complement each other. I find that the area of trade during this decade is also going to be tremendously important,” he said.
‘Climate change’: Referring to climate change Modi said: “You just mentioned that on the second of October we will be celebrating the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi always used to talk about the principle of trusteeship, trusteeship of the planet. It means that the planet that we have, we have to bequeath it to the following generations, and this sentiment of trusteeship is going to assume more and more importance globally, but also between the relations between India and the United States.”
The meeting was attended among others by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, NSA Jake Sullivan and Special Presidential climate envoy John Kerry. From the Indian side, Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, among others.
Concern over Pakistan's role in Afghanistan
In his media briefing, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said during the meeting, there was a clear concern expressed on Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and the continuing support for an approach that did not seem to be conducive to the international community's expectations of what the war-torn country should be like. "Both India and the United States agreed that the issue of terrorism is very important. Both sides denounced any use of terrorist proxies and emphasised the importance of denying the logistical, financial or military support to terrorist groups, which could be used to plan, or launch terror attacks," he said.
Discussion on situation in Afghanistan
Noting that there was quite a bit of discussion on Afghanistan, Shringla said that there was a lot of importance attached to the fact that the United Nations resolution 2593 was adopted and India's Presidency of the Security Council. "This is an important resolution which reflected the international community's general view on the situation in Afghanistan and the obligations of the ruling dispensation there to fulfill certain conditionalities that the international community faced are important," he said.
"So, the two sides underscored the importance of combat and terrorism in Afghanistan. They called on the Taliban to adhere to these and all of its commitments under resolution 2593. That includes, obviously the issue of ensuring that the Afghan territory is not used to threaten attack against any country, shelter any terrorist groups or finance terrorist attacks and underscores the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan," he said.
The two delegations also called upon Afghanistan to respect human rights of women, children, minorities, provision of humanitarian assistance and access to humanitarian workers, Shringla said. They also called upon the two sides to secure an inclusive politically negotiated settlement in Afghanistan, he said.
"This is an important point. I think the fact that the current ruling dispensation did not appear to be an inclusive one, did not involve the ethnic minorities of Afghanistan to the extent that it should, that it did not did not include participation of women," he said.
