Washington: Asserting that the US has made a "long bet" on India as a crucial partner in advancing their collective security interest in South Asia, a top American diplomat has said that the two nations have a "unique ability and opportunity" to shape this region's future for good.
"In the South Asia region, we have made the long bet on India as an important partner in advancing our collective security interests," the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said in her address to the annual meeting of Association of the US Army.
A transcript of the speech delivered by Biswal on October 14 was released by State Department on Tuesday. "It will come as no surprise to this audience that we conduct more military exercises with India than any other country and we are fast becoming India's biggest defense partner," she said.
Great examples include Exercise Yudh Abhyas, an army to army exercise that brought 150 Indian Army soldiers to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington where they arrived aboard an Indian Air Force C-17, and MALABAR, currently underway with India and Japan.
Together with 225 American soldiers, the two armies practiced working together in peacekeeping and counter- terrorism operations, she said. They also exchanged views on regional security and emerging challenges in the Indo-Pacific, she noted.
"The US and India have a unique ability and opportunity to shape this region's future for good and to that end, earlier this year President Obama and Prime Minister Modi laid out a Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region," Biswal said.
"This landmark document affirms the importance of safeguarding maritime security, ensuring freedom of navigation - especially in the South China Sea - and peacefully resolving territorial and maritime disputes," she added. Biswal said the US is also building India's capacity through our defense trade.
Last month, the Indian Air Force finalized a USD3 billion deal for Apache and Chinook helicopters. "And we're now helping India develop aircraft carrier and jet engine technology as part of our Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, which Secretary Carter launched back in 2012," she said.
"We are increasingly cooperating in countering the threats posed by non-state actors through increased counter-terrorism cooperation in the region. The US and India just agreed on a Joint Declaration on Combatting Terrorism, which paves the way for greater intelligence sharing," she said.
Biswal said the two countries have also reached a major announcement on peacekeeping cooperation: together with India they are going to jointly train peacekeepers with several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
"Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal are four of the top six contributors to UN peacekeeping operations - in fact, over one-third of all deployed UN peacekeepers are from South Asia," Biswal said.
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