US-India: The Partnership America Needs but Doesn't Fully Have

Why India Matters

India has 1.4 billion people, the world's fifth-largest economy (and growing fast), a large and increasingly capable military, nuclear weapons, and a strategic location flanking China and overlooking crucial sea lanes from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia.

If the United States is serious about building a coalition to counterbalance Chinese power in the Indo-Pacific, India is not optional. It is essential.

The Complicated Reality

The US-India relationship has been improving for decades, but it remains more potential than reality in several key respects.

India is not a US ally. It is a strategic partner — meaningfully different. India has consistently maintained "strategic autonomy," a polite term for refusing to align formally with either major power bloc. It buys military equipment from Russia (the S-400 air defense system), participates in exercises with the US and its partners, and carefully manages its relationship with China despite border disputes that have turned violent.

India has its own democratic backsliding problem. Under Prime Minister Modi and the BJP, press freedom has declined, religious minorities (particularly Muslims) face increasing discrimination and violence, and independent institutions have been weakened. A US that values democratic norms needs to grapple with how to maintain partnership while speaking honestly about these trends.

Immigration tensions. The Trump administration's immigration crackdowns have directly affected hundreds of thousands of Indian nationals on H-1B visas and in the green card backlog. India has the largest number of people stuck in the decades-long employment-based green card queue. This creates ongoing friction.

The Quad Framework

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — US, India, Japan, Australia — represents the most developed multilateral framework for Indo-Pacific security cooperation. The Quad has strengthened over the past several years, with military exercises, supply chain cooperation, and diplomatic coordination.

India's participation is genuine but bounded. It will not commit to an explicit anti-China security pact. But cooperative exercises, defense technology sharing, and intelligence cooperation are all valuable steps.

What Good Policy Would Look Like

Deepening the US-India relationship should be a bipartisan strategic priority. That means:

• Resolving the green card backlog for Indian nationals (a practical step with enormous goodwill value)
• Continuing and expanding defense cooperation and technology transfer
• Maintaining the Quad while managing India's desire for strategic flexibility
• Honest dialogue about democratic governance without making it a precondition for security cooperation

The current administration's approach has been inconsistent — periodically strong on defense ties, repeatedly undermined by immigration policy hostility and general alliance skepticism.

FAQ

Is India a US ally? No, India is a strategic partner. It has not signed a mutual defense treaty with the US and maintains "strategic autonomy" — meaning it does not formally align with any power bloc. It participates in the Quad and multiple defense arrangements without formal alliance commitments.

Why does India buy weapons from Russia? India has historically maintained military equipment from multiple sources as part of its non-aligned strategic approach. The S-400 purchase caused significant US-India tension because of the US CAATSA law that can sanction countries buying Russian military equipment.

What is the Quad? The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a diplomatic and security framework involving the US, India, Japan, and Australia, focused on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, particularly as a counterweight to Chinese influence.