Why India and the US are close friends but not ‘full allies’ • FRANCE 24 English

For today’s perspective we’re going to look at India as a political force in the world how it operates in the midst of international crises with the conflict in Ukraine and Gaza where New Delhi has sway how it chooses whether or whether not to engage in events and how the world’s most populous country

Interacts with the superpowers particularly the US my guest on today’s perspective says they’re close but they are not allies there are limits that simply cannot be crossed Dr Ashley Tellis is a former senior adviser to the US ambassador in New Delhi he’s now a senior fellow at the Washington based

Think Tank kigi Endowment for International Peace and joins us on the program for perspective well good to talk to you Doctor first of all give us a sense imagine you are a geopolitical wedding planner which table are you putting India on Well India certainly wants to be at

The high table but I think it has to have many more achievements to its credit before it gets there at the moment it is content to play the game of moving from table to table because it doesn’t want to be fixed with any particular Block in the world but I

Think the ambition ultimately is to sit at the high table you’re it’s interesting I’ve you’ve you’ve said very interesting comments on the relationship and you’ve had a particular notable role yourself because I think I’m right in saying 20 years ago you were pivotal in bringing about a key nuclear deal between India

And the US so I’d like you to try and Define for me the the US relationship right now in the midst of conflicts in Gaza Ukraine where do the two countries stand so the US relationship with India at the moment is in a very good place

And it is colored very much by the realities of us competition with China so even though the Indians have taken a position for example on Ukraine that has not been entirely satisfactory to Washington the Biden Administration has chosen to overlook uh the inconveniences of the Indian possessions because they see

India as a very important partner in the longer term challenge posed by China and so at the moment we have uh we have really made an effort uh to downplay the differences that may exist in the relationship ship tell us about the bridge that you say that can’t be crossed operationally

Militaristically well the bridge that can’t be crossed is that no matter how close India and the United States get uh India does not see itself and will never see itself as essentially a full Ally of the United States in other words India wants a relationship with

The United States that’s as close as as possible it wants a relationship that delivers American high technology and American benefits to India but it wants a relationship also uh that entails minimal reciprocity on India’s part and I think it that relationship will be asymmetrical uh for a long time to come

For precisely the reasons that Indian expectations uh are as I described them it’s very interesting right now given the situation with Russia in Ukraine and India’s role there if we look at India’s sort of birth as an independent country where it had this um non-aligned role for many years between the Soviets after

The in the cold war in the in the US um I just wonder at play at the moment since you talk about good relations with the US how much of a is that chafing the fact that you know the political role the you know embargos that possibly are

Being overlooked with oil and support tcid support financial support from New Delhi to to Moscow I think this is an issue that will become very serious in the uh you know in the in the months ahead because the West is now really trying to redouble its efforts uh to push back on

The Russian invasion and I think the West led by the United States will look very closely especially at the character of the sanctions regime and the role that India is playing in weakening that sanctions regime so the differences that exist between the two countries will certainly be challenges that both sides

Will have to manage but as I said thus far the US has given India a very big pass now whether that you know that pass will be sustainable I think will be tested in the months ahead really good to talk to you Dr Tellis Ashley Tellis former senior advisor to

The US ambassador in New Delhi and Senior fellow at the Cari Endowment for International Peace

In this edition of Perspective, we take a closer look at India as a political force in the world. How does the planet’s most populous country operate as a geopolitical player, especially amid the conflict in Ukraine? And how does India interact with superpowers, particularly the US? Dr Ashley Tellis, a former senior advisor to the US ambassador to India, describes the relationship between New Delhi and Washington as one of close friends, but not “full allies”. He spoke to FRANCE 24’s Gavin Lee in Perspective. 

Read more about this story in our article: https://f24.my/AA3f.y

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48 comments

  1. "close friend" !!?? 😅
    who in their right mind would trust USA to be a "close friend" other than Anglo nations ?

  3. Well why just allies. We Indians love the US so much that we support complete merger of the two countries – one president with one election, common currency and no Visa system required for travel. 😬😬😬

  5. American's, CIA will Always Support/Behind Pakistan ( support Terrorism in the Background). There No Ifs and BUTs about it. Its A Fact American's Should Not Be Relied or Be Trusted.
    American's Have Double Standards.
    NEVER Trust Them. Anything they Do is For Their Gains, Not in the Interest of World/Global. Selfish & Double Standards. NEVER To Be Trusted.

    India should be Weary of USA and CIA.
    RUSSIA IS MORE RESPONSIBLE AND RELIABLE.

  7. Come on we are 1.4 billion country, 7th largest by area, 3rd largest by military, 5th largest by economy how could we be allies we are partners

  11. Will the west ever show interest on the terror conflict in Somalia, Pakistan military attrocities in Pak occupied Kashmir, Junta atrocities in Myanmar…they vocalise the issues that suite thier interests…Why should India bother about Ukraine when Europe doesnt bother other conflicts.

  18. Very Interesting to see US supplies weapons and fighters to Pakistan and expect India to be its USA's ally. 🙂 Crazy people !! Every one knows Pakistan is the go to place for terror org

  19. France and Russia have helped India a lot…..Russia sent warships against India to protect Pakistan. What do you expect in return? Red carpet to come and poke. ?

  20. Don't push Russia so much that it is forced to form an alliance with China and rogue states like North korea ,Iran. That will be dangerous for the entire world. America is a superpower on the decline which was forced to make a hasty retreat from Afghanistan leaving the power and the fate of the common Afghans in the hands of the Taliban. Even in the red sea the Iran backed houthis are attacking American and western owned vessels at will. Even the presence of the American navy doesn't deter them from carrying such attacks. So,if the American's are thinking that they will defeat Russia with the help of NATO then they are wrong in their assessment and their actions can potentially trigger a nuclear war destroying the entire world. So the American's and it's western allies should stop playing brinkmanship and should rather force Ukraine to talk to Russia and end this conflict. Here India can play a vital role because of the long and trustworthy bilateral relations with Russia. Therefore India is right in maintaining it's strategic autonomy and become a voice of the developing world even at the cost of irritating the American's.

  21. “ To be an American enemy is dangerous but to be a friend is fatal “, if we have leaders like Mr. Trump,
    who preaches narcissism for Americans and couldn’t careless about the World.

  25. India shouldn't be a full-time ally of the US. India shouldn't allow others to stab its own back, the US is one of them. They used others on use and throw term and they will certainly do the same with India

  27. In 1999 war between India and Pakistan, USA support Pakistan and Israel support India. Then Osama bin Laden and Pakistan came together.

  28. Ashley Tellis might feel US sanctions against India is a leverage for his adopted country but like they didn't work against Russia, these sanctions if applied against India, will not work either. The main reason is that, around 70% of India's economy is driven by domestic demand and very little through foreign trade. US doesn't have any leverage over India to make an impact with economic sanctions. Tellis is too obsessed with his US citizenship and has a tunnel vision of Indo-US relations.

  30. Countries like US should never be trusted. They can do anything if it benefits them. They play dirty game. There is no respect for US among Indians. We know our history and we don't forget that easily. US was found to be on other side of line whenever other countries started conflict with India.

  31. Because unlike France , India is a sovereign country . India fought for its freedom from the British for 200 years , where as Americans had to fight for the freedom of France after it surrendered to the Nazis .

  32. The elite ruling class of India suffer from Helsinki syndrome after generations of colonial rule. They want sit at the “top table” with their former masters. They may gain some short term advantage because of the larger geopolitical environment, but in my opinion, not fully align with the globe south will cost them.

  33. We are not allies with anyone. We have many friends and thats how we see it. US is a very important friend for us. We hate China and Pakistan and are dependent on Russia for arms.

  34. When you support Pakistan with F16 assistants… And back stab India .. how you can expect to be allies.. its better to be non aligned to the USA…

  37. No India and US are not close friend….India has never been very close friend…it's not correct…US has been close friend of Pakistan.

  40. India & U.S. would have been friends long back, had it not been for the British in India & our independence from England thereafter . . . soon after 1947 India was being looked at as an adversary to U.S. & more so when India was no longer a part of Britain . . . and as we all know Britain was & still is the quintessential ally of the U.S. . .

  42. India and usa can never be full allied since they are living ocean apart and big cultural and historical difference. Only thing they have is common interest in geopolitics. Some time that could get in way when usa lectures hunman rights and calls india a hindu nationalist country.

  44. Lol…typical bickering by a so called USA expert who still belives in the fallacy of superiority that they know much more than a poor 3rd world country…as long as these so called archaic experts will remain, indo-us relationship will remain deficit in trust…anyways

  46. Why we need usa ?

    Before slavery we contribute more than 27% gdp of world

    Now 18% world population live in idnia

    And in future we take whole country of Pakistan

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