India brings great capabilities and shared interest: Pentagon

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 25 (PTI) Identifying India as a major
regional and global power, the Pentagon said it wants to
strengthen and deepen its relationship with New Delhi because
India not only brings in great capabilities, but also shared
interest.
"When you start looking at which countries you want to
cooperate with the most, you look immediately to countries
that bring great capabilities and bring shared interests.
That's what we have in India and that's why the (India-US)
partnership is so important," Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for South and Southeast Asia Robert Scher said.
He said in response to questions after delivering his
remarks on India-US defense relationship organised by New
American Foundation, a Washington-based eminent think tank.
Scher was part of the high-powered US delegation led by
the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India in July.
He said that maritime security was the clear area of
focus that was identified by the two countries.
"That is the large focus of the defense policy group. It
was the focus of Secretary Clinton's trip, talking about
maritime security and recognising that maritime security was
not just the Defense Department, but there are many other
actors involved. So that would be the key area where we would
be looking to see how we explore more with India," he said.
The US and India, he said, share a clear desire for
freedom of navigation and unimpeded sea lines of
communication, particularly in the Indian Ocean.
"And through our military engagements this year, we will
seek to deepen cooperation on key issues such as maritime
domain awareness, countering piracy and humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief," the official said.
"India is a major regional and global power. We view our
relationship with India as a partnership of equals -- two
nation states with a commonality of security interests in the
Indian Ocean region and beyond," he said, adding the most
important thing the US is doing in its defense relationship
with India is building mutual trust and understanding that
will help to ensure that common values and interests can
translate into common approaches.
Referring to the scheduled India-US-Japan trilateral
dialogue later this year, Scher said, Japan falls into the
categories of countries like India that have shared interest
and capabilities to jointly address the global challenges.
India and the US have an important role in fostering
multilateral cooperation in Asia and supporting the emerging
regional security architectures, Scher said.
"Overall we will increasingly look to India's leadership
and partnership in promoting and maintaining security in the
region and the world," Scher said.