Lalit K Jha
Washington
The informal Quad grouping in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region comprising Australia, India, Japan and the US fills a “very important gap” that has emerged in contemporary times and New Delhi has clarity on its membership in it, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
The Quad aims at strengthening a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific amidst China's aggressive actions in the region. “Quad today fills a very important gap that has emerged in contemporary times, where there are global or regional requirements, which cannot be filled by a single country. It cannot even be filled by one bilateral relationship, and which is not being addressed at the multilateral level,” he told a group of Indian journalists as he concluded most of his meetings in Washington on Friday.
He asserted India has clarity on its membership to Quad, adding he had been personally involved in its progress over the past several years, including when he was India’s foreign secretary.
“We are members of Quad. When we are members of anything, we are very keen about it, otherwise, we won’t be its members. We have clarity on the Quad,” Jaishankar underlined. Quad was one of the key issues of discussion between Jaishankar and top officials of the Biden administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Blinken said he had a productive meeting with visiting Jaishankar and they discussed the bilateral ties, Covid-19 relief efforts, India-China border situation and Afghanistan and vowed to work together to address areas of shared concern.
“Blinken welcomed Jaishankar to the Dept of State, where he reaffirmed the US administration’s commitment to deepening the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” State Dept spokesperson Ned Price said after the meeting.
“Productive discussion today with Dr S Jaishankar on regional security and economic priorities to include US Covid-19 relief efforts, India-China border situation, and our support for Afghanistan,” Blinken said.
“As friends, we will work together to address these areas of shared concern,” Blinken tweeted, hours after the meeting with Jaishankar at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.
In his tweet, Jaishankar said he had a "productive discussion" with Blinken on various aspects of bilateral cooperation as well as regional and global issues. “Covered the Indo-Pacific and the Quad, Afghanistan, Myanmar, UNSC matters and other international organisations,” he said.
“Also focused on Indo-US vaccine partnership aimed at expanding access and ensuring supply. Appreciated the strong solidarity expressed by the US at this time. Today’s talks have further solidified our strategic partnership and enlarged our agenda of cooperation,” Jaishankar said.
There is a recognition in the US India is an important part of the conversation when it comes to talk about the future of Afghanistan, Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar said the situation in Afghanistan from where the US is in the process of withdrawing its troops, was discussed during his meetings with Austin, Blinken and Sullivan.
“In my meeting with the Secretary of Defence, with the, with the Secretary of State, the Afghanistan issue obviously came up because it is a very important concern."
“The possible scenarios, once the US military draws down is obviously something which matters to us, it matters very much to Afghanistan, it matters to the US, and it has a larger regional resonance,” he said.
“I don’t think it was so much an issue of what is India’s role? I mean, India has an interest, India has influence, India has stakes, India has a history out there. We are a regional country. We are probably bordering Afghanistan. So, there is a recognition, clearly in the US as indeed in many other countries, that when you talk about the future of Afghanistan, India, is an important part of that conversation.”
