‘US looking for big-ticket military equipment sale to India to boost economy at home’: Pak Editorial

ISLAMABAD - At a time when the United States is going through a hard time trying to achieve economic recovery and the Republicans have made unprecedented gains in mid-term elections, President Barack Obama is looking for wide-ranging economic cooperation with India during his four-day trip in the hope that this will lead to the creation of more jobs at home, an editorial in a Pakistani newspaper has said.

“The agenda of this visit is directed as much towards a domestic audience as to the Indian hosts,” and while the announced deals cover “mostly non-military sales and trade, the US is looking for sale of big-ticket military equipment to India,” the Daily Times editorial said.

“India has relied more on the Soviet Union in the past and later Russia for its heavy weapons requirements. The procurement, logistics, arrangements and management of such weapons is a very complex affair,” it said.

“When a country has been virtually wedded to a single source, it is very difficult to switch to another one overnight. However, India started this process of diversification some time ago that is expected to continue, as evident from its interest in US technology and military equipment,” the editorial added.

It said that if India “agrees to buy big-ticket items, it will also provide a fillip to the US economy, whose biggest and leading component is the defence industry.”

It also noted that the US president brought along with him a 250-strong delegation of American business, emphasising the importance being given to economic cooperation during this visit.

Obama may not have evoked the kind of warmth and enthusiasm that was seen during President George Bush’s visit to India in 2006 when the two countries signed the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, the editorial said.

However, it added, that the US president’s initiation of his Asia tour with India and underscoring of the potential of India to become a major trade partner are part of US deference towards India and acceptance of its role as a major player in South Asia. (ANI)