Clinton has helped Obama rope in India as potential ally: CSM

Washington, July 22 (ANI): U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent five-day visit to India has been termed successful in that it has ensured that New Delhi remains pivotal to President Obama's attempt to stabilize Afghanistan.

From India's point of view, it has welcomed the U.S. as a balancing force in its regional competition with China.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, these are the building blocks of an emerging and potentially enduring strategic relationship.

It says that the U.S. and India need to work particularly hard at raising American understanding of India - beyond such cultural encounters as the film "Slumdog Millionaire," and adds that the two countries have never had an intense experience of each other, such as the US wars - hot and cold - with Japan, China, Russia, and Germany.

The successes of Clinton's trip have helped to expand the president's vision for a multi-polar world, says the CSM.

The recent visit to India shows that the former first lady can dutifully deliver results that point to an Obama-style global order.

The president (and thus Ms. Clinton) sees India as one of a few major or emerging powers that are well shy of being US allies but nonetheless might work more closely with the US - as the sole global superpower.

By and large, the Clinton visit has revealed an India is ready to deepen ties with the US - far more than with say, China or Russia, and in similar measure to fellow democracies like Turkey, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Clinton won deals on selling US nuclear power-plant equipment to India as well as high-tech military equipment that can be tracked for its end use. She also made some progress in bringing India closer to abiding by international rules on nuclear weapons known as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India won regular, high-level, multi-ministerial strategic talks with the US that will expand on the Bush administration's stronger military ties with this South Asian giant.

And in a sign of Mr. Obama's global agenda to look beyond traditional American allies, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the first foreign leader to receive an official red-carpet state visit to the Obama White House.

If Obama is true to his vision, he won't wait too long to travel to India after Mr. Singh's November visit. That gesture would help cement a partnership long overdue between the world's two largest democracies, says the CSM.

Sticking points, however, remain such as differences over climate change and any American meddling in its touchy ties with Pakistan, especially over the issues of Kashmir and Afghanistan. (ANI)