How Raisina Dialogue created space for greater US-India cooperation. An extract
Admiral John C. Aquilino
One year later, in 2017, the Raisina Dialogue hosted the first panel that included the Quad nations and an academic panellist from Indonesia. Raisina’s efforts to push the boundaries on the Quad inspired Admiral Harris to recommend an official name change for the US’s oldest and largest combatant command. In 2018, at Admiral Harris’ change of command and retirement ceremony, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis officially announced the name change from U.S. Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, highlighting the connection and importance of the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the security landscape of the region.
Admiral Harris believed then, as I do now, that the US-India relationship represents the most significant opportunity for both countries in the twenty-first century. However, bold and audacious leadership is needed to expand and deepen the strategic partnership to harness the inherent potential of our two great democracies and the growing ties between our people, economies and governments.
Admiral Phil Davidson, my immediate predecessor, continued Admiral Harris’ efforts to make Raisina a crucial incubator for multilateral conversations that senior military officers across the region must have. Six months following the Raisina Dialogue in 2018 and the announcement of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command name change, the first-ever ‘two-plus-two’ meeting of the US’s and India’s top defence and diplomatic officials took place. The third foundational agreement, known as the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), was also signed at that time, which provides the possibility of Indian military units gaining access to a secure Common Tactical Picture, in turn allowing Indian military units to receive data from the US and friendly counterparts during exercises or operations. In January 2019, Admiral Davidson sat on the first all-military officer panel at the Raisina Dialogue, which included the Quad nations and France. The panel underscored the need for multilateral collaboration between like-minded countries to maintain stability in the security landscape and a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
A few months later, at the second two-plus-two between India and the US, the Industrial Security Annex (ISA) was signed, allowing for the transfer of technologies supporting defence production. Additionally, the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), the latest foundational agreement that gave India expertise in geospatial intelligence, provided India the mission-planning capability to work with real-time data to defence forces when using weapons like cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones. Finally, Australia joined the Malabar Naval Exercise, which coincidentally sat on top of various political and military dialogues and arrangements between the Quad countries. Today, all four countries are permanent members of the Malabar Exercise, which takes place every other year at various locations in the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Following Admiral Davidson’s last engagement at the Raisina Dialogue in April 2021, he announced in his final Congressional testimony that the Indian and US navies are now securely sharing information with one another. India has substantially increased its acquisition of US defence equipment. Defence sales are at an all-time high, with India operating US-sourced platforms such as P-8A Poseidon, Precision-Guided Excalibur Munitions, and helicopters like the Apache and Chinook.
Admiral Davidson communicated to the Raisina Dialogue in 2021 that the US expects substantial progress on interoperability and information sharing, as well as service-level and joint military-to-military quadrilateral collaboration between India, Australia. Japan and the US, at a pace all four countries are willing to accept as the relationship continues to mature.
I assumed command of INDOPACOM shortly after Raisina 2021 and attended my first Raisina Dialogue in March 2022. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with the chiefs of defence from the Quad nations, the chief of defence from the United Kingdom, and the deputy director for international affairs from France. I got to see first-hand why Raisina was so important—it provides the opportunity to meet with many allies and partners who are singularly focused on the issues facing the Indo-Pacific. Thirty days later; ORF America opened its doors in Washington, D.C., acknowledging that the US-India partnership will be a defining one for the foreseeable future, not always without its differences and difficulties, but moving together towards convergence and cooperation.
The Indo-Pacific Ties
This relationship between two of the world’s three largest populations, two of the world’s largest militaries, and, in the near future, two of the world’s largest economies will naturally have global implications. Therefore, generating a better understanding of each other’s policies is imperative. This long-term investment of an ‘ideas bridge’ between India and the US on global issues was energised because of the Raisina Dialogue.
As the world’s oldest and largest democracies, the US and India would gain from a closer partnership—one that is indispensable for promoting and maintaining global peace and prosperity. Indeed, the US-India relationship endures and continues to develop based on shared principles and a complementary vision of the future. The US views India as a critical security partner in Asia. Participants are willing to advance the US-India relationship through this dialogue based on our shared love for democracy and freedom.
A panel at this year’s most recent Raisina Dialogue, titled ‘The Future of Conflict: Lessons from the Third Decade’, took a deeper look at the impacts of conflict on the global community on the heels of the March G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Over the past two years, the United States and India have expanded their defence activities and consultations and recently concluded the last of the ‘foundational defence agreements’ across all the services and defence intelligence services, capping off a nearly two-decade effort by policymakers in both countries to formalise the legal sinews of operational defence cooperation.
From Harry Harris to today, the Raisina Dialogue has created the political and social space for us to witness the foreign ministers from the Quad nations discuss on a global stage the issue that concern them most. All four countries have made efforts to nurture the Quad and work towards an agenda that our governments are now working on together. Japan’s foreign minister at that time, Yoshimasa Hayashi, who is a gifted pianist, referred to himself and his three colleagues as the Beatles—they all play together but can also work solo. Just 60 days after Raisina, the Quad military chiefs met again at the Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue at Sunnylands for more focused discussions on the security and political landscape and how the militaries could work closer together across the region to help build confidence, reinforce the rules-based international order, and support further regional integration.
The next Raisina Dialogue, scheduled in February 2024, will be my last as USINDOPACOM commander. I believe the relationship between the US and India has an irreversible momentum as long as the conditions continue to foster opportunities for more robust economic integration and increased military interoperability. The Raisina Dialogue will continue to play a vital part in what many believe is the most substantial bilateral relationship for the twenty first century and a gold standard for shaping multilateral engagements, as witnessed by the Quad.
(The writer is a former Commander, United States Indo-Pacific Command. This essay is part of the anthology on Raisina Dialogue)
RAISINA DIALOGUE: INDIA’S GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE
Edited by S. Jaishankar and Samir Saran
Rupa Publications India, Pg 206, Rs 595