India an ‘essential’ U.S. partner in Indo-Pacific, its rise is good for American interests, says top Pentagon official

U.S. official Elbridge Colby emphasizes India's vital role in the Indo-Pacific, highlighting mutual benefits despite existing differences.

India and the U.S. desire an Indo-Pacific in which no one power can dominate, said a senior Pentagon official, but did not make any reference to the Quad while detailing the Trump administration’s policy for the region.

The official, U.S. Assistant Secretary in the Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) Elbridge Colby, is visiting Delhi amidst the war in West Asia, and spoke ahead of his talks with Ministry of Defence officials in the Defence Policy Group on Wednesday. While his speech praised India as an “essential partner” in the region, he said both countries had differences but did not need to agree on everything to “cooperate effectively”.

“America’s objective is to build a partnership between two great republics that will form critical pillars of maintaining a favourable and stable balance of power in this critical region,” Mr. Colby told an audience of diplomats and foreign policy thinkers in Delhi. “A strong, confident India is not only good for the Indian people. It is good for Americans as well,” he said. 

Mr. Colby added that India’s importance in the Indo-Pacific region stems from its size and economic potential, and also from its geography and strategic position. 

“India possesses a long tradition of strategic autonomy and a growing capacity to shape events well beyond its borders. It is the largest republic in the world. Its success thus carries profound symbolic and political weight. It has formidable, self-reliant and capable military forces willing and able to shoulder significant security responsibilities,” he said, comparing “vigorous, self-assured states” favourably to those “with dependencies”. 

Mr. Colby’s mention of India’s rise being in the U.S.’s interests follows close on the heels of a controversial speech by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau earlier this month, where he had said the U.S. would not support India’s economic rise as it did with China in the 2000s.