The Task Ahead

With the dramatic developments of the past few months, most saliently theIndian Parliament’s vote of confidence in the Manmohan Singh government andnow the India-specific waiver granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, theIndo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative (or "the nuclear deal")has broken free of the constraints of domestic Indian and internationalpolitics. With any luck, it will also vault over the remaining hurdles ofdomestic US politics and succeed in its aim of integrating India into the globalnuclear order. This is a consummation devoutly to be wished, not just for itsown sake but because it now clears the way for much broader and deeper strategiccooperation between India and the United States.

Such a partnership is both desirable and realistic -- it reflects asubstantial convergence in the broad interests of both nations as well as theirshared commitment to the institutions and values of liberal democracy. Whilethat commonality has existed for many years it has not always been sufficient,in itself, to ensure a close relationship between the United States and India.But the last decade and a half have been marked by a burgeoning economicrelationship and the emergence of shared concerns about Islamist terrorism, thelinked issues of energy security and climate change, and -- last but not least-- the rise of China and the future of the Asian balance of power. Thesedevelopments have come with a synergistic growth in human links, especially therise to salience of Indian Americans in American economic and political life.Myopic critics notwithstanding, a true Indo-American partnership has thepotential to be a significant force for international stability, prosperity andfreedom and it could well become the most important bilateral relationship foreither nation in the decades to come.

But, if there is one lesson to take away from the unexpectedly extended sagaof the nuclear deal, it is that such an outcome is not a foregoneconclusion. Instead, much effort will be needed on both sides to generate ashared agenda that is solicitous of the core interests of both countries andresistant to domestic and international political winds. It is to this work thatdecisionmakers, opinionmakers and concerned citizens in the two countries mustnow turn.

As a first step in this process it will be essential to acknowledge, and todiscuss with greater candour, several near term challenges that could derail therelationship before it has a chance to gather momentum. The question of how bestto deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions is clearly at the top of this list.Latent disagreements between Washington and New Delhi over the coupled problemsof Afghanistan and Pakistan could also emerge at virtually any moment. In thesomewhat longer term, differences over apportioning the burdens of climatechange could become a source of considerable friction. All of these issues wouldbenefit from some serious collaborative thinking by Indian and American experts

There are also, of course, many problems that could benefit from coordinatedactions by India and the United States, some of which have not received theattention they deserve. India’s potential to anchor a zone of liberalism andprosperity in South Asia and to help address the sources of instability inNepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could benefit from more active US support. Indiaand America do share a common commitment to liberal democracy, even though theydiffer on whether, and if so how, and how fast, it may be possible to persuadeothers to embrace similar ideals. Dealing effectively with Myanmar will requirecreative ideas that allow such moral imperatives to be asserted withoutexpanding a strategic deficit. Intertwined with these but on a broader canvas isthe challenge of maintaining a balance of power and influence in Asia that isfavorable to liberal democracy and the maintenance of peace. On the same,larger, canvas the Indian Ocean and especially the Middle East beckon as regionsin India’s proximity that are also of intense strategic concern to the UnitedStates.

It is not our contention that India and the United States can generate asingle, unified perspective on all of the above questions and others we have nottouched. That is surely impossible for a multiplicity of reasons. But we areconfident that the two countries have enough overarching aims in common that adeeper engagement can generate collaborative, synergistic courses of action on awide range of issues.

We referred at the outset to the need to build an agenda and understandingthat is resistant to the vicissitudes of domestic politics of both countries. Bythis we did not mean to slight or minimize the complexity and occasionalunpredictability of their common democratic processes. It is these, after all,that lie at the root of their capacity to anchor a liberal world order. What wehave in mind instead is a degree of mutual understanding and respect that canonly arise from a large and sustained flow of ideas and people between the twosocieties; between universities and think tanks, as well as governments andcorporations. Here the United States and India are somewhat behind where theyshould be, as compared for example, to the burgeoning ties between the UnitedStates and China. After decades of estrangement and mutual misunderstanding, anda comparatively short period of increasing convergence, there is much work yetto be done. However, recent events should make it easier to get on with thebusiness of building a relationship that carries enormous promise for Americansand Indians alike.

Aaron Friedberg is Professor of Politics and International Affairs atPrinceton University and Shivaji Sondhi is Professor of Physics at PrincetonUniversity.