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POMPEO IN SOUTH ASIA
  • US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Secretary of Defence James Mattis
    US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Secretary of Defence James Mattis
Some Indian newspapers, following the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary John Mattis enthusiastically titled: "India enters NATO". Underlining with a striking title the signing of a treaty defined as a milestone in relations between Washington and New Delhi. This is the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement, for the sake of brevity Comcasa: an agreement that the United States has signed with around thirty countries all over the world and which guarantees a whole series of benefits in terms of sharing military intelligence and intelligence defense. It also guarantees India, and hence the headlines of the newspapers, access to a military communication system called Link 16 which was originally designed for the countries belonging to NATO. In the recent past, South Korea has gained access to Link 16, and now India. Pompey declared that "A new era has begun for relations between India and the United States". On the other hand, for some years now, at a strategic level, relations between the two countries have undergone a marked change of direction compared to the past: change of course inaugurated by the signature of the nuclear treaty by Manmohan Singh, and then continued in the years with the signing of a series of treaties on defense and commercial treaties so much so that, at the moment, the United States is the second arms supplier to the country. Not that between Washington and Delhi everything has always been smooth: US interests do not always coincide with those of India, and in recent months there have been some significant frictions. India has strong interests in Iran, in the port of Chabahar first of all. Depends substantially on Iranian crude, and has no intention of following the United States in the renewal of sanctions against Tehran. New Delhi also ordered a missile defense system called S-400 in Moscow, despite US sanctions on arms purchases from Russia. In this regard, Pompeo said: "The United States understands the history of relations between India and Russia ... We do not intend to penalize a major strategic partner like India" and, apparently, the Americans are working on a sort of "presidential dispensation" that allows New Delhi to show up arms and crude oil without violating US sanctions. To act as a glue, in fact, are more stringent reasons. As the common concern for the aggressive Chinese expansionist strategies throughout the geopolitical area: the so-called new Silk Road, the Obor, considered by many to be the modern avatar of the ancient east India Company, and in particular the Cpec, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, but not only. The equation also includes the Chinese strategy in the South China Sea and, last but not least, the shared concern between India and the United States for Pakistani-based terrorism. In fact, before arriving in Delhi, Pompeo stopped, for just five hours, in Islamabad where he met the newly elected prime minister Imran Khan, a couple of government ministers and generals at the head of the Armed Forces and secret services considered by most, in Pakistan, the true rulers of the country. The visit, net of the statements of circumstance issued by both parties, was not exactly friendly. It came immediately after the announcement that Washington has suspended 300 million military aid to Pakistan and after the now famous inclusion of the country in the FATF gray list in June. The Americans are trying to force Pakistan to stop providing protection and support to the Afghan Taliban, with whom direct talks were recently held in Doha. The issue of terrorism and, in particular, of Afghanistan, is burning and made even more delicate by the victory in the elections of Imran Khan. Imran has been nicknamed "Taliban Khan" in his homeland for his extremist positions. He is a declared supporter of the Taliban tribal justice, and for years he attributes to the Americans, and to the drone bombings, the blame for the advent of terrorism in Pakistan. After Pompey's visit, and while the Secretary of State signed the treaties in Delhi, Imran Khan declared that: "Pakistan will never fight anybody else's wars", with clear reference to Afghanistan and the usual Pakistani narrative. Islamabad, according to its rulers, is a victim of terrorism, the Americans and the rest of the world. A prolonged adolescence, to be lenient. Who can not get out of the usual strategies of double games, terrorism used as the main means of foreign policy, from an old concept of the world order. And the fact that the government was sent a supporter of the army, the Taliban and various jihadi does not bode well. India has now become part of the rest of the world, while Pakistan seems, like the legendary Brigadoon, to move further and further away into the mists of the past.
Francesca Marino
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