Here is one way of looking at it: the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T Esper to New Delhi comes extr...
Here is one way of looking at it: the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T Esper to New Delhi comes extremely deep into what would, in India, be the period of operation of the model code of conduct. Coming ahead on an election, the code bars the government from making any major political announcements. There is just a week until the US goes to the polls, on November 3. Already, millions of Americans have made their choice by sending mail-in ballots ahead of time.
This has been one of the most divisive US elections in recent times. The American Opposition has not hestitated to call out the actions of US President Donald Trump at home or abroad, especially since some of those efforts have appeared to be aimed solely at ensuring his re-election.
Yet the visit of Pompeo and Esper to sign a major defence deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a leader whose open embrace of Trump has come in for criticism in both countries, barely a week before election has not come in for partisan criticism in the US.
“To its credit, [the Trump administration] has substantially advanced security and defense ties with India,”...
