US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hopes to cement gains in ties with emerging global power India as she arrives in New Delhi on Monday but Pakistan is expected to figure extensively in the talks.
Clinton will hold “strategic dialogue” talks with leaders in New Delhi before heading south to Chennai, one of many Indian cities undergoing rapid expansion as the country’s economy opens up to foreign investment.
Her arrival in India late Monday comes after the blasts in Mumbai last week that killed 19 people and injured more than 130 in the latest reminder of the region’s struggle to crack down on terror attacks.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but relations between India and Pakistan have been undermined in the past by militant strikes in India that the government blames on Pakistan-based groups. US officials say Clinton’s trip will demonstrate the breadth of cooperation — which ranges from expanding military and intelligence work to educational exchanges and nuclear and other hi-tech energy projects.
But the pending US drawdown of forces in Afghanistan and Indian relations with traditional rival Pakistan will both be in focus as Indian security fears grow following Wednesday’s attacks on Mumbai. .
US officials and political analysts say that Clinton will urge India to stay the course and not raise tension, concerned that any overreaction by New Delhi could upset an already fragile US relationship with Islamabad.
“She will encourage India to do all it can to engage Pakistan, to find areas where they might be able to break down some of their barriers and build some kind of confidence in each other,” said Karl Inderfurth, a former senior State Department official under the Clinton administration and now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
It will not be an easy sell — although analysts say India itself is increasingly worried over the stability of its neighbour and has its own reasons for moving cautiously.
Indian police have questioned members of a home-grown militant group, taking some of the immediate heat off Pakistan.
But both New Delhi and Washington suspect that elements of the Pakistani establishment may not be fully onboard with the US-led fight against Islamic militants, doubts underscored in May when US forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a compound not far from Islamabad without telling the government in advance.
Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, said the latest attacks “will inevitably colour Secretary Clinton’s visit.”
Clinton will also put much of the focus on her three-day trip on economic ties, which have been fast improving but which many see as yet to fulfil their potential.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2011.
COMMENTS (41)
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I think the current visit of Hillary clinton is for something else.The current dramatic increase in anti Pakistan Slander campaign In US media blended with the advice of H Clinton to india to lead Asia and explore "new Central Asia Silk routes" is a dangerous sign for the existence of Pakistan. It appears that the war monger US generals are indeed following **Blackwill's Plan for creating "pashtunistan" and disintegrating Balochistan**.Therefore the policymakers of Pakistan should wake up and lay stress on having strategic partneship with Iran and China. They must form a joint intellingence and security working group with Iran in particular as quickly as possible. Creation Of independent Balochistan and Pashtunistan is the motive of United States so that their economy which is collapsing can get a steroid injection from central asian gas reserves. If this god forbids happen Iranian province Sistan will also disintegrate, therefore strategic partnership with Iran is a must. If this evil Balckwill Plan for afganistan becomes successfull the territorial inetgrity of three countries i.e.Pakistan,Iran And China will be a thing of the past for various reasons. So "wake up".To all Troll Accusers:
ET is a Pakistani newsite. It is one of a kind and very good. Its format encourages all view points -- not just Pakistani, to be shared. It is healthy to keep that window open and allow 'others' to offer their perspectives- even if they are Indians. It is the age of the internet - get used to the information highway.
@sundar:
Yes totally agree bth sides leave hate messages for each other and every debate turns into a matter of whos worse off than whom which undermines the importance of many articles...personally i dont think its about anythign other than bruised egos!
@hariharmani: Very well said ... this self praising and bragging clearly shows how naive people on our part of this tiny world are ... I wonder if those thousand and millions of people who were foot soldiers for princely states and died in fighting each other just a few hundred years ago, were alive today what would they think to see their princely states exists nomore?. The same could be said for these people .. If another race from any of these million of stars in this universe come and invade us, I wonder if we will still be fighting each other or Are we going to think then that we are same human living on a single round earth and all differences will go away.
There is old saying,light,that is 'diya' does not annouce look i'm light and with my grace the darkness is repelled'It is clear for any one with sight to see the simple truth.I often see the blogs from both side of the border often indulge in chest thumping,it is pointless to point out which is active which is reactive.The point I'm making truely society with real stuff do not indulge in frivilous bragging,it is sign of bad breeding not to mention bad manners.You will rerely see Englishman,or for that matter Chinese often indulge in this games,they are people with culture and sure of their achievement, & there standing in the world stage,how many Chinese you hear or see, who declare every other sunday,'Look we are super power"Same goes with America everybody knows they are the sole super power,every one wants to be part of .Their institution of learning ,and their business accume is envy of the world,the sooner we stop the bragging,and villifying the other,we all will be better off and we can start earnestly rebuilding bridges we all have part in messing up for 63 years,no one among us is saint,we all have"sinned',we all need to look inside our'Gilobhan'(IN side our own collar') I ignore jerks,there is saying, you do not even have to look for them,they are scores in every "Chorastha","EK dondo 1000 miley'(LOOK FOR 1 YOU FIND 1000.,this really fits folks who comment in T/E I have stopped commenting in TOI and H/T for they are disgusting and mouth piece of powers to be,thet they have long cease to be the the 4th pillar of a healthy democracy.They are so oblivious to their sins they no longer care,look the way Dig Vijay Singh, a loser from M.P. is their main spoke person,does any body need to say more?.I trust my comment will make some people desist from writing nonsense,but I do not hold my breath, in hope..
@Sam, R S JOHAR: I have to agree with both you guys. I wish both of us use this message board to get to know each other better and exchange views that may make both nations better neighbours. I believe you will agree some from both sides post undesirable messages which will not help anyone. I have seen Pakistanis posting obnoxious comments in TOI. People have to differentiate between common well meaning netizens from establishment. .
@Usman:
who is parkistan??
@AK: so rightly said.. iv been trying to get the same point across haha
@ RS Johar and Avanti - you should feel welcome on this site. We are neighbors and should be friends. We welcome positive dialogue.
@BruteForce
Pakistan still not consider Hindia a regional power....
@R S JOHAR:
you got it all wrong i ahve no issues with indians chinese or ETs themselves being on ET Pakistan... i have an issue with indians downplaying the importance of all topics by making them an india pakistan issue.. for instance the plight of ahmedis in pakistan... we were all appalled.. and what happens when indias check the article out.. they start leaving hate messages about how muslims and pakistanis are.. no i ahve an issue with self proclaimed self righteous(not quite) individuals.. i ahve an issue with indians assuming we care when they leave behind their hate messages to try and snub us when quite frankly i hate to burst such peoples bubbles on it we dont quite care..
@Sam: My dear, I am fully aware to be on a Pakistani website and my comments are also related to the topic posted by ET which you have failed to notice. However, your only grudge appears to be related to Indians posting comments on ET which I am afraid will continue to do so till the daily decides to debar us and if it happens, you all will certainly miss us. Let me also tell you that ET is more popular than Times of India or Hindustan Times which are the leading english language dailies in India and we Indians are extremely grateful to this popular daily who allows us to express our views.
@Asad: "If you indian trolls have forgotten . . ."
I agree - some of us come to brag about India and show Pakistan down. But trust me - a whole bunch of us are here to learn from you all. We don't want to make the same mistakes (Hindu terrorism, for example) that you guys have made. And similarly, you can learn from us as we have an outside perspective and we are ordinary Indians and many of us want Pakistan to prosper.
@Arindom, R.S Johar: Please keep Clinton there with you. Apart from our puppet rulers, we really are not interested and don't want her. Blessing in disguise!
@R S JOHAR:
lol who cares.. we are pakistanis.. ur on a pakistani website in case u didnt notic.. we dont care aboutwhy hilary clinton is in india.. by all means keep here there.. lol i love how u guys think we care.. but we dont..
Ms Clinton is in India to talk about business, trade, education etc etc and she'll be in Pakistan to discuss aid, mercenary military's performance, prolonging puppet rulers and their dummy parliament, killing more Pakistanis in the name of phony war on terror etc etc
Obama came to India to find ten thousand jobs for the Americans but Clinton is coming for much more important agenda and strengthening strategic relationship with India. Part of agenda is well narrated by Arindom.
Recently I studied the Nixon era in US politics, and he was extremely obnoxious about Indira Gandhi and Indians in general. Ever since then they'e always been pro-Pakistan and anti-India because India has put their foot down where they needed to. Of course now the US is dying to get onboard the India wagon because of their booming economy. Bloody capitalists!
If you indian trolls have forgotten let me remind you this is a PAKISTANI NEWS SITE. They will post news articles with Pakistani perspective you trolls are welcome not to read and contribute.
@pl/sql:
err hvaing read ur comment and then salmans its very evident whos blinded by hatred..
All i can say is that Pakistan, India and America need to sort out their problems and work together to build a better future and a stable region. If we continue to play this blame game this will only hamper the the situation!
We must also maintain good ties with China,Iran and Russia and not get too close to America.
One very bad news for Pakistan....A huge deposit of Uranium found in Andhra Pradesh in India.
Thanxs God USA has left Pakistan after reaching its present state and moved towards India. Congratulations to India and USA on their new found love.
Clinton is very aggressive and really wants India to buy some more things.......
In today's networked and inter connected World every country wants to be where the action is. When the developed western world is suffering low growth everyone wants to bite a share of the pie with India and China growing at 8% and 10%. India needs capital of Billions if not Trillions of Dollars to build up its infrastructure so every PM and President have come calling. The discussions on regional issues will be peripheral at best. With 70% of Indian population favorably inclined to the US the Yanks will never give up this lead by any inimical action. You scratch my back I scratch yours is the way to go. For a relationship to be strong actions must match words so all know where they stand.
@pl/sql: I don't think he said anything anti Indian
@Arindom:
if pakistan is so iorelevant then why my dear are u someone seen on posting comments on all topics making unwarrented and irrelevant (to the article) comparisons b/w india and pakistan... (before u even begin to reply let me reiterate UNWARRENTED and IRRELEVANT)
heres some food for thoough for u.. HILARY CLINTON .. by all means keep her.. pls if possible dont let her leave india.. its really not an ego issue.. theres more common sense behind why im sayin we dont want hilary clinton.. lol i cant believe how excited u guys are about her visit ahahahaha
US should worry about its own domestic economy. US should keep its jobs at home such as IT and manufacturing jobs and stop worrrying about India's quest for becoming a world power and competing with China. India should try to become a world power on its own and not by sqeezing US resources and drying up main street American jobs.
Why are we worried about the visit of Hallary Clinton to India? See the difference, in India she is being received by foreign secretary while in Pakistan.....???. Why are we jealous of India: We should understand that due to its population and big land they have become one of the greatest consumer markets of the world. In India they avoid to import finished/value added products from the other countries but encourage them to bring their production units, alongwith technoligies, to be installed in India, in partner ship with local talent and also run by their local labour force. They have better law and order conditions, better trained labour force and also better disciplined(which you can also observe in middle-east). Their percentage of education is high i.e more than 85%. They offer a lot of fun, entertainment and very developed tourism facilities. They have been quite successfull in developing a culture of reasonable tolerance. Investors and sellers are always in search of big markets, resultantly they are visiting India again and again and trying to make friendly terms with them. This is all economic struggle and who will be more cautious and prepared, success will come to them. We need to think seriously--- reorganise ourselves, teach and train ourselves, bring peace and discipline, forget tribal fueds and arm culture then our country can also make headway towards progress and attract foreign invesment. We have more potential in many fields than other countries in this region.
@Kalia:
She is touring the big powers- India and China, why on Earth will she come to Pakistan?
Besides when Obama came to India last year, Pakistan had a hissy fit asking him to come to Pakistan too, to soothe one's ego that they are important too.
Atleast be consistent in what you want!
@Salman: There's nothing "pro-India" about saying that India is an emerging economic power. It already is. Only trouble is the disparity of incomes between the rich and poor is appalling. I am sure that gap will be bridged in the years to come.
India is obsessed with Pakistan.
@Salman: Dude, your hatred for India does not mean that you blind yourself to facts and current global political trends.
Mrs. Clinton meet your new allies in "war on terror". Don't come to Pakistan thank you very much! AMF!
'Emerging global power India'! Why do people in Pakistan think being liberal means being pro India?
Why does the article start with Pakistan? In the scheme of things between US and India there are things FAR more important than the old irritant topic of Pakistan:
Here's the real meeting agenda :-)
1) US is desperate to get entry into Retail and Insurance sectors of India. India wants more access of IT and reduction in new Visa fees on it's IT professionals and more access to US pharma markets.
2) US is sore that India has not placed N-reactor orders with it although it has helped India get the N-deal. India has placed orders with Russia and France. India is sore with the US N-end-user laws.
3) US is not happy with India for ignoring it in the $12bn fighter jet deal. India says it placed other hardware orders anyway and the Jet-deal had too many problem-clauses.
5) More US investment in India - especially Infrastructure. More Indian investment in US - especially in local US IT development centres and US manufactruring
6)Countering the growth of China!
7)Tackling the Taliban post-withdrawal in Afghanistan
8)Update each other and information sharing on terrorist camps in Pakistan.
So - there's your perspective!!
wonder how these two powerful women diplomats compare with Pakistan's new female foreign minister...?
India didn't buy the US planes, but Clinton still showed up, and is happy to be there. The underlying message is - do the right thing, do what is best for you, follow the right path, and the world will be there at your door steps. And she is also going to China!