US, India have a complicated history, says US official

The US and India have a complicated history and they have not always been wholly aligned, US Principal Deputy NSA Jonathan Finer said on Monday.

New Delhi: The United States and India have established a mature relationship that enables both sides to identify opportunities and work through differences, US Principal Deputy NSA Jonathan Finer said on Monday.

In an address at a conclave, he said the US and India have a complicated history and they have not always been wholly aligned. Finer said there are many difficult issues that remain in the relationship right up to the present day.

Acknowledging Complex History

At the same time, he said there is a bipartisan view in the US that both countries must seize some important opportunities that the world presents to the two sides, both geopolitically and economically.

The senior White House official is on a visit to India that comes days after American prosecutors linked an Indian official to a man charged with conspiring to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil.

Identifying Common Ground

"I think the US and India have a complicated history. We have not always been wholly aligned. We have not always found it easy to work together as economic partners, we have not always found it easy to be on the same side on issues geopolitically,” he said.

"I think in some ways the most important step forward for the US and India is recognizing on each side that there is much more that connects us than divides us,” he said. Finer was speaking at an interactive session at the Global Technology Summit.

Addressing Difficult Issues

The Biden Administration official said it is not that both sides will agree on everything and that there are many difficult issues that remained in the relationship right up to the present day. However, he did not elaborate on the difficult issues.

Finer said both sides demonstrated that we can work through our differences in a constructive way without derailing the broader cooperative agenda. "The US and India have established a mature relationship and that mature relationship enables us to identify opportunities that are in our mutual benefit,” he said.

Examples of Cooperation

The US Deputy National Security Advisor cited cooperation under Quad and iCET Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies as examples of such cooperation.

To a question on differences between New Delhi and Washington on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said it is much more complicated than just the area of differences. "There are aspects of the conflict that we very much agree with. There are aspects of the conflict that we see differently,” he said.

Constructive Engagement

"One thing that we have demonstrated is that even on the issues that are most challenging, we can work through them constructively and get to a better place,” he said. He said both sides are trying to establish a pioneering relationship in the area of critical technologies that will be consequential for both the countries.

The US and India have a long and complicated history, but both sides are committed to working together on common challenges. Despite some difficult issues, the two countries have a mature relationship that enables them to identify opportunities and work through differences. Cooperation on critical technologies will be consequential for both countries.