India and the US have agreed to accelerate defence and national security ties as Defence Secretary James Mattis, at a meeting with Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman, asserted that the Trump Administration sees no contradiction between strategic autonomy and strategic partnership.
Sitharaman, the first woman defence minister of India, is currently on a five-day maiden trip to the US. From here, she travels to California to visit the Defense Innovation Unit of the Department of Defense and the Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii.
“The United States and India, in Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi’s work, have overcome hesitations of history, carrying forward the legacy of friendship and making clear there is no contradiction between strategic autonomy and strategic partnership,” Mattis said Monday as he welcomed Sitharaman at the Pentagon for a delegation-level meeting between the two leaders.
Having arrived in Washington DC Sunday, she started her official visit by visiting the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, where she signed on the condolence book of former US President George H W Bush.
From there, she drove to the Arlington National Cemetery where she laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a gesture which did not go unnoticed at the Pentagon.
“On behalf of our department and all of our service members, thank you for paying your nation’s respect at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. We’re grateful,” Mattis said, welcoming the defence minister at the Pentagon, where she was given a red carpet welcome.
Mattis said Sitharaman’s presence at the wreath-laying made clear that the US-India military relations were not “defined by brittle or empty words” but by the human aspect of partnership steeped in recognition of the two nations’ respective sacrifices and the cause of peace, friendship and freedom.
The two largest democracies of the world, despite diverse histories and cultures, have shared principles, values and respect for the rules-based international order. “The US-India relationship is a natural partnership between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracy,” he said.
