Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited five countries in five days over the past week. The tour began with Afghanistan on June 4, where he met President Ashraf Ghani for the second time in as many weeks, to inaugurate the Salma Dam project in Herat province, said to be worth $290 million. The two leaders had met in Tehran less than two weeks before that, to sign the trilateral Chabahar port agreement.
“Inauguration of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam is a historic moment of emotion and pride in relations between Afghanistan and India,” Modi said in a Twitter message. “This is a project that will irrigate lands and light up homes. The dam is a generator of optimism and belief in the future of Afghanistan. India cherishes the friendship with Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, we want to see democracy strike deep roots, people unite and economy prosper.”
Then, Modi went to Qatar, where he met with Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. Investments and energy agreements were discussed, and MoUs related to commerce were signed. The Indian prime minister then went to the US via Switzerland, becoming the fifth Indian PM to address a joint session of the US Congress. His trip culminated in Mexico.
The focus of Modi’s US trip was the acceptance of Indian application by the club of 48-country Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
“We are looking forward to the acceptance of our application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This matter would be coming up for the discussion at the end of this month in South Korea,” Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told reporters. “The US has been supportive of this process for some time now. So, that too was something which was discussed at some length, and we count on US support in that regard, and I would say that the US was very positive in their approach on this issue.”
But as Modi met President Obama on Tuesday, diplomatic sources told Bloomberg that the NSG is unlikely to accept India’s application for membership when it meets in Seoul on June 20. “India will need to wait a while longer before it joins the elite club of nations that control trade in advanced nuclear technologies,” three diplomats were quoted as saying. They were not named, in line with diplomatic rules for discussing private deliberations. “Officials in New Delhi haven’t yet met all the criteria for admission.”
A New York Times editorial said on Saturday that India’s NSG membership is not merited until the country meets the group’s standards. “As part of the 2008 deal, the Indians promised they would be ‘ready to assume the same responsibilities and practices’ as other nations with advanced nuclear technology. But they have fallen far short by continuing to produce fissile material and to expand their nuclear arsenal,” it said. “If (India) wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state, it should be required to meet the nuclear group’s standards, including opening negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons and halting the production of nuclear fuel for bombs.”
A Foreign Office official wishing anonymity said that Islamabad has recorded its protest in diplomatic talks with Washington on multiple occasions. “Yes, we do have a concern that the same standard isn’t being applied to India and Pakistan when it comes to NSG membership, and we have raised this issue with the US many times,” the official said. “But as has been evident, there are many US-based media houses and think-tanks that are calling out the duplicity. And so we’re confident that reason will prevail.”
Nuclear physicist and academic Pervez Hoodbhoy believes the West’s concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear programme are valid. “Not only are there rogue elements in Pakistan, we have been engaged in nuclear commerce and our foreign policy towards our neighbours is very aggressive,” he says. “So yes, it is understandable why the West doesn’t trust us. The state patronage given to the rogue elements is obviously a concern. But at the same time India would have to concede that its own push to enhance the nuclear arsenal endangers the region and is counter-productive.”
Former Chairman of Senate Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs Akram Zaki says while it’s evident that India’s foreign policy is centered around sidelining Pakistan, Islamabad just needs to focus on its own interests. “Whether it’s the perpetual nuclear rivalry or Modi wooing Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan, Pakistan should just focus on itself. We need to present a strong case for our inclusion in NSG membership instead of worrying about what India is doing,” he says. “India’s growing relations with Afghanistan or Iran should not be seen as detrimental to Pakistan. If India and Afghanistan are building friendship dams, we have many other projects going on with both Iran and Afghanistan.”
A serving Indian diplomat says many in New Delhi are talking about a nascent India-Afghanistan-Iran axis. “India is definitely looking to benefit from Pakistan’s problematic relations with both Iran and Afghanistan, but the aim isn’t to isolate Pakistan per se, the bigger goal is to contain China, who we see as our rival in the region, more so than Pakistan,” the diplomat says. “China tries to double up against us through Pakistan and it’s that combo that we can negate through this budding trilateral axis, which forms a circumference around the hub of Sino-Pak ventures.”
A Pakistani security official says India’s growing influence across the Western front can be dangerous for Pakistan’s security. “Both Mullah Mansoor and Kulbhushan Yadav entered Pakistan through the same border, around the same time the Chabahar Port was being inaugurated. And then Mullah Mansoor was killed, just when Islamabad had convinced the Afghan Taliban to give another shot to peace talks,” he says. “It is evident that the US is not interested in peace in the region and in Modi and Ghani Washington might have found the kind of allies that would continue to make America relevant in a region it should have left long ago.” He says both Ghani and Modi should expect rewards from Washington.
“Inauguration of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam is a historic moment of emotion and pride in relations between Afghanistan and India,” Modi said in a Twitter message. “This is a project that will irrigate lands and light up homes. The dam is a generator of optimism and belief in the future of Afghanistan. India cherishes the friendship with Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, we want to see democracy strike deep roots, people unite and economy prosper.”
Then, Modi went to Qatar, where he met with Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. Investments and energy agreements were discussed, and MoUs related to commerce were signed. The Indian prime minister then went to the US via Switzerland, becoming the fifth Indian PM to address a joint session of the US Congress. His trip culminated in Mexico.
The focus of Modi’s US trip was the acceptance of Indian application by the club of 48-country Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
“We are looking forward to the acceptance of our application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This matter would be coming up for the discussion at the end of this month in South Korea,” Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told reporters. “The US has been supportive of this process for some time now. So, that too was something which was discussed at some length, and we count on US support in that regard, and I would say that the US was very positive in their approach on this issue.”
But as Modi met President Obama on Tuesday, diplomatic sources told Bloomberg that the NSG is unlikely to accept India’s application for membership when it meets in Seoul on June 20. “India will need to wait a while longer before it joins the elite club of nations that control trade in advanced nuclear technologies,” three diplomats were quoted as saying. They were not named, in line with diplomatic rules for discussing private deliberations. “Officials in New Delhi haven’t yet met all the criteria for admission.”
A New York Times editorial said on Saturday that India’s NSG membership is not merited until the country meets the group’s standards. “As part of the 2008 deal, the Indians promised they would be ‘ready to assume the same responsibilities and practices’ as other nations with advanced nuclear technology. But they have fallen far short by continuing to produce fissile material and to expand their nuclear arsenal,” it said. “If (India) wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state, it should be required to meet the nuclear group’s standards, including opening negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons and halting the production of nuclear fuel for bombs.”
A Foreign Office official wishing anonymity said that Islamabad has recorded its protest in diplomatic talks with Washington on multiple occasions. “Yes, we do have a concern that the same standard isn’t being applied to India and Pakistan when it comes to NSG membership, and we have raised this issue with the US many times,” the official said. “But as has been evident, there are many US-based media houses and think-tanks that are calling out the duplicity. And so we’re confident that reason will prevail.”
Nuclear physicist and academic Pervez Hoodbhoy believes the West’s concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear programme are valid. “Not only are there rogue elements in Pakistan, we have been engaged in nuclear commerce and our foreign policy towards our neighbours is very aggressive,” he says. “So yes, it is understandable why the West doesn’t trust us. The state patronage given to the rogue elements is obviously a concern. But at the same time India would have to concede that its own push to enhance the nuclear arsenal endangers the region and is counter-productive.”
Former Chairman of Senate Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs Akram Zaki says while it’s evident that India’s foreign policy is centered around sidelining Pakistan, Islamabad just needs to focus on its own interests. “Whether it’s the perpetual nuclear rivalry or Modi wooing Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan, Pakistan should just focus on itself. We need to present a strong case for our inclusion in NSG membership instead of worrying about what India is doing,” he says. “India’s growing relations with Afghanistan or Iran should not be seen as detrimental to Pakistan. If India and Afghanistan are building friendship dams, we have many other projects going on with both Iran and Afghanistan.”
A serving Indian diplomat says many in New Delhi are talking about a nascent India-Afghanistan-Iran axis. “India is definitely looking to benefit from Pakistan’s problematic relations with both Iran and Afghanistan, but the aim isn’t to isolate Pakistan per se, the bigger goal is to contain China, who we see as our rival in the region, more so than Pakistan,” the diplomat says. “China tries to double up against us through Pakistan and it’s that combo that we can negate through this budding trilateral axis, which forms a circumference around the hub of Sino-Pak ventures.”
A Pakistani security official says India’s growing influence across the Western front can be dangerous for Pakistan’s security. “Both Mullah Mansoor and Kulbhushan Yadav entered Pakistan through the same border, around the same time the Chabahar Port was being inaugurated. And then Mullah Mansoor was killed, just when Islamabad had convinced the Afghan Taliban to give another shot to peace talks,” he says. “It is evident that the US is not interested in peace in the region and in Modi and Ghani Washington might have found the kind of allies that would continue to make America relevant in a region it should have left long ago.” He says both Ghani and Modi should expect rewards from Washington.