India and the U.S. desire an Indo-Pacific in which no one power can dominate, said a senior Pentagon official, but did not make any reference to the Quad while detailing the Trump administration’s policy for the region.
The official, U.S. Assistant Secretary in the Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) Elbridge Colby, is visiting Delhi amidst the war in West Asia, and spoke a day ahead of his talks with Ministry of Defence officials in the Defence Policy Group on Wednesday. While his speech praised India as an “essential partner” in the region, he said both countries had differences but did not need to agree on everything to “cooperate effectively”.
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“America’s objective is to build a partnership between two great republics that will form critical pillars of maintaining a favourable and stable balance of power in this critical region,” Mr. Colby told an audience of diplomats and foreign policy thinkers in Delhi. “A strong, confident India is not only good for the Indian people. It is good for Americans as well,” he said.
Strategic position
