In 2021, Sameer Lalwani and Tyler Sagerstrom wrote “Avoiding a Collision Course With India,” which argued that U.S.-Indian relations risked being overlooked in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan and India’s controversial acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems. In light of continued questions over what the U.S.-Indian partnership should look like in practice, we invited Sameer back to reflect on his article.In your 2021 article, “Avoiding a Collision Course With India,” you wrote about the numerous downsides of enforcing defense-related sanctions on India as punishment for their acquisition of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. Ultimately, the United States decided to waive those sanctions to save its multifaceted relationship with India. What did this decision do for U.S.-Indian relations and how are those relations faring today, given the continuous threat from China on both nations? Has India increased its confidence in the United States to support its deterrence initiatives? It is true that an amendment added to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act indicated that by a “sense of Congress” that the waiver of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions against India was in the best interest of the United States. It is also true that the Biden administration did not implement those sanctions. This effectively cleared a path for significant advances in the U.S.-Indian strategic partnership marked by successful head of state visits, industrial partnerships in jet engine technology and semiconductors, new space domain collaborations, major joint military exercises, a joint accelerator effort for defense startups, and India joining a U.S.-led multinational security coalition. All these advances have been driven first by the increasing threat of aggressive Chinese behavior, and second by a perception that American and Indian deterrence of that threat is mutually reinforcing.However, it does not appear that the sanctions threat has been completely neutralized. Otherwise, Sen. Marco
Members-Only Content
This article is reserved for War on the Rocks members. Join our community to unlock exclusive insights and analysis.
In 2021, Sameer Lalwani and Tyler Sagerstrom wrote “Avoiding a Collision Course With India,” which argued that U.S.-Indian relations risked being overlooked in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan and India’s controversial acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems. In light of continued questions over what the U.S.-Indian partnership should look like in practice, we invited Sameer back to reflect on his article.In your 2021 article, “Avoiding a Collision Course With India,” you wrote about the numerous downsides of enforcing defense-related sanctions on India as punishment for their acquisition of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. Ultimately, the United
