Gearing up for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's state visit, top officials of the Barack Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have discussed the key areas of 'strategic dialogue' that the US plans to have with India.In preparation of Dr Singh's visit to Washington on November 24, Clinton on Wednesday attended a meeting of the US-India Strategy Dialogue to review the progress and identify key areas to be accomplished.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will arrive in Washington on Monday to hold talks with the United States administration on a host of crucial issues.Karzai has already been pulled up by Obama over the rampant corruption in the Afghanistan administration. But in a bid to pacify its important ally in the war on terror, Obama has reportedly instructed senior officials to treat Karzai with respect and stop criticising his government.
The United States has sought to insulate its request to the Congress for a cut in economic and security aid to Pakistan from its relationship with the country, asserting that it has no intention to lower ties with Islamabad.
The Chinese President Hu Jintao was accorded a red carpet welcome by the United States after he arrived on a four-day state visit, even as lawmakers introduced a legislation against yuan manipulation.
Prime Minister Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of US President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
On her last day as India's envoy to the United States, Ambassador Nirupama Rao was felicitated by the Barck Obama administration at the State Department on Monday, with US Secretary of State John F Kerry thanking her for her service toward furthering the strategic partnership between the two nations.
India would confront a more entrenched China, a less dependable United States, and a regional order increasingly shaped by great-power bargaining over which it exercises limited influence, notes Amberish K Diwanji.
United States President Barack Obama hosted the 14th and final formal State Arrival Ceremony and State Dinner on October 18. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife Agnese Landini were welcomed to the White House with a grand reception. To mark this momentous occasion, Chief White House photographer decided to share glimpses from some of the other state dinners hosted by the Obama administration over the last eight years.
United States President Barack Obama has stated that he will not apologise for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during his visit -- the first by a sitting US president -- to the city, he told Japanese television.
US President Barack Obama is looking forward to the state visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November.
United States President Barack Obama will visit India this summer, making him the first US President to visit India in the first two years of his first term in more than 30 years, senior administration officials and diplomatic sources.According to the sources, more details regarding the finalisation of dates will be discussed when Dr Singh arrives in Washington, DC on April 12 on a two-day visit, on the invitation of Obama, to attend the Global Nuclear Security Summit.
US experts believe it is imperative for Obama to "demonstrate that he recognises India's increasingly important role in the broader Asia region, and his interest in building a long-term strategic relationship. He must quell concern that India is a side issue for his administration, which has been consumed by Afghanistan and Pakistan and also heavily emphasising working with China."
The visit of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to New Delhi - the first by a top Obama administration member after the State Visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here last year - is all set to bolster Indo-US ties, a leading American expert on South Asia has said.
United States President Barack Obama will have a tight schedule during his three-day visit starting January 25, as he will hold talks with top leadership in New Delhi on ways to make progress on key issues like defence and civil nuclear agreement and attend the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest, among other engagements.
After Modi became the prime minister, the Indo-US relationship has seen an upward trajectory, he said.
The honour of being the guest at the first state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama would go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it will be held during his upcoming State Visit scheduled for November 24. Obama, who has been a great admirer of Manmohan Singh for his visionary role in steering India from a developing country to a major economic power, has invited the prime minister for the first State Visit of his administration.
In New Delhi, Singh will continue US administration's ongoing consultations with India, and advance a range of issues in the US-India economic relationship and strategic partnership.
Ashley Tellis, a former official in the George W Bush administration and key foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, had initially been a sceptic of the (United States President Barack) Obama administration's policy toward South Asia and specifically India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday wound up his four-day State visit here, first by a foreign leader under the 10-month-old Obama Administration, during which the two countries decided to transform their ties into "one of the defining" relationships of the 21st century.
The tactics deployed by Obama to bring India on board, which was the only major power in his way of the climate deal, was described by his former top personal and national security aide Benjamin Rhodes in a podcast interview.
Tibetans, both in the occupied Tibetan areas of China and in the diaspora, are increasingly frustrated by what they perceive as the ambivalent attitude of United States President Barack Obama on the continued unrest in the Tibetan areas of China, and the violations of the human rights of the Tibetans by Beijing, says B Raman
Amid trade tensions between Delhi and Washington, the NYT article gives an account of how relations between Trump and Modi "unraveled" after Trump's repeated claims of solving the four-day conflict in May between India and Pakistan, an assertion denied by India.
Sections in the US State Department and Pentagon have always felt more comfortable dealing with all powerful Pakistani generals instead of elected civilians, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Officials of the US State Department have been briefing the media about the kind of honours that will be accorded to Dr Singh when he visits Washington. These are meant to show that there has been no change in US policies towards India under the Obama administration. The reality is that on every matter, which is of concern to India, greater attention is being paid to China's sensitivities and concerns.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup also welcomed appointment of South Carolina's Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.
On the eve of US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke's visit to the South Asia, The Guardian newspaper has said Pakistan is the greatest foreign policy challenge for the Barack Obama administration.
'The current strain in the relationship is serious and likely to be long lasting.' 'Even if Trump suddenly changes his attitude toward India -- which he is entirely capable of doing -- it is unlikely that New Delhi will be able to pick up the pieces and respond as if nothing has happened.'
The apparent consensus among South Asia watchers and experts in United States is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's three-day visit to Mumbai and New Delhi was a slam dunk in effectively quashing the contention of naysayers, both in India and the US, that the Barack Obama administration was less committed to the India-US strategic partnership than its predecessor George W Bush administration.
The United States is keen to work with India on security, political and economic issues and President Barack Obama's visit represents the future of American engagement with a strong player within Asia and the global stage, the White House said on Wednesday.
United States President Barack Obama is sending a team of officials led by Richard Holbrooke, his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, to visit refugee camps housing lakhs of people who have been displaced by the military offensive in Swat and adjoining areas of the North Western Frontier Province. Holbrooke is expected to have a first hand assessment of the situation and then recommend how best the US can accelerate relief measures.
"During the Sharm el-Sheik conference, I emphasised President Obama's and my commitment to working to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Clinton said who is on her first visit to the region in the capacity of Secretary of State.
By any standards, 2010 would be remembered as a watershed year in India-United States ties, when American President Barack Obama paid his maiden visit to India and endorsed his country's "indispensable partner" for a permanent United Nations Security Council berth, recognising New Delhi's emergence on the world stage.
The National Association of Manufacturers is launching digital and print advertisements in New York and Washington, in major publications like POLITICO, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Roll Call and The Hill.
Strategic affairs experts express concern over US President Donald Trump's tariffs on India, his 'bullying tactics,' and increasing attempts to hyphenate New Delhi with Islamabad, signaling a potential shift in the bilateral relationship.
Terming United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's forthcoming visit to Pakistan as a 'people-to-people trip', Obama administration's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said that Clinton's trip to the troubled nation would be one the most important foreign visits of the top American diplomat.
United Stated Defence Secretary Robert Gates will visit India next week during which the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and regional security issues will dominate the agenda of his talks with the Indian leadership. The January 19-21 tour of Gates will be the first high-level visit from the Barack Obama administration after the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November last year.
The White House said that Obama, who has been often accused by critics of making an "apology tour" to the Middle East and Europe during the first year of his presidency.
The former US president's spokesman rejected the allegations and said he never ordered surveillance on any US citizen.
Karl F Inderfurth, who was Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton administration, and Nicholas Burns, who was Under Secretary of State in the Bush Administration, told rediff.com that Obama's endorsement during his address to a joint session of Parliament thus made his visit to India transformational too in a sense as had the trip by Clinton in March of 2000 and Bush in March 2006.
For a rising country like China with its sights set on global and regional power, any coming together of the US and India is the worst case scenario. Hence, China is concerned with the emerging equations between New Delhi and Washington, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
