- Tuesday, May 07, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi is set to make a three-day visit to the United States this month and the trip will feature key issues like Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, Indo-Pacific and climate change besides other aspects of bilateral ties.
According to media reports, the scheduling of programs and engagements of Modi will be worked out by the advance team, which is expected to reach Washington by September 9. The visit of the Indian prime minister will begin with a bilateral meeting with US president Joe Biden in Washington on September 23 and it will be followed by a physical summit meeting featuring leaders of the ‘Quad’ countries on September 24.
Modi is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 before flying back to India.
This will be Modi’s first international visit since he travelled to Bangladesh in March this year. He did not make any visit in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and his upcoming US visit will be the first since September 2017 when he attended the ‘Howdy Modi’ event with former US president Donald Trump in Houston, Texas.
Modi has made a total of six visits to the US since he first came to power in 2014, making it the country he has visited the most. However, the upcoming visit will be the first time since Biden came to office in January this year. The last time Modi met an American president was in early 2020 when Trump and former first lady Melania visited India.
Apart from strengthening the bilateral ties between India and the US, security and diplomatic ramifications of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan besides Indo-Pacific where China has posed a major threat to American interests will be on top of the diplomatic agenda of Modi’s talks with Biden.
It will also be the first Quad physical summit with Australian and Japanese heads of government even though the decision of Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga to step down has created uncertainty over his availability. Australian premier Scott Morrison has confirmed his availability for the summit which virtually met in March.
Both India and the US are among the worried parties over the recent developments in Afghanistan where the Taliban have thundered back to power following the withdrawal of the America-led western troops. The role of countries like China, Russia and Iran will be among top priorities of the Modi-Biden talks while Pakistan’s influence over the formation of the new government in Kabul will also be discussed.
The head of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence is in the Afghan capital for the last few days to ensure that a pro-Pakistan government is formed.
The Quad is expected to not only discuss the regional security of the Af-Pak region but also the Indo-Pacific as China stands to gain from the Taliban’s return to power through Pakistan.
The bilateral engagement between India and the US and the Quad summit will pave the way for the decision on the legitimisation of the Taliban regime, it has been learnt.
Modi is also expected to address the core issues that the world is facing today, at the UN General Assembly. India in August held the presidency of the UN Security Council and Modi also presided over a meeting in which he spoke on the issue of maritime security.
