Can the U.S. Salvage Its Relationship with India?

U.S.-India relations were once described as one of Washington’s MOST important strategic bets in the twenty-first century. But over the past year, that partnership has come under serious strain buffeted by trade disputes, sharp rhetoric, and deep disagreements over Pakistan and Kashmir.  In the current print edition of Foreign Affairs, Lisa Curtis and Richard Fontaine argue that this rupture is not just another rough patch, but rather a potentially consequential turning point. The essay, “America Must Salvage Its Relationship with India or Risk Losing a Global Swing State,” makes the case that how Washington manages its ties with New Delhi in this moment will have lasting implications for the Indo-Pacific balance of power, U.S. credibility in Asia, and competition with China. 

To talk more about this new piece, Lisa joins Milan on the show this week. Lisa is Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. She is a foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the U.S. government including at the National Security Council, CIA, State Department, and Capitol Hill. Most recently, Lisa served as Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council from 2017 to 2021.  Milan and Lisa discuss the “fit of presidential pride and pique” that has derailed bilateral ties, President Trump’s repeated desire to mediate between India and Pakistan, and the sudden revival in U.S.-Pakistan ties. Plus, the two discuss America’s strategic competition with Beijing, what it will take for Washington to remedy its trust deficit with New Delhi, and the long-term consequences of a sustained rupture between the United States and India.