Barack Obama’s US vows to get Mumbai justice

US president Barack Obama pledged on Thursday to make history with India and “progress that will be treasured not just by this generation but by generations to come” as he announced that he would visit New Delhi in early-November.

So long as it was those rough and ready cowboys George Bush and Dick Cheney, India knew exactly where it stood.

Obama, the cosmopolitan sophisticate has been charming, but more nuanced and hard to read. But prime minister Manmohan Singh’s passion for the US is unlikely to go unreciprocated. America under Obama is taking a long, cold look at its ties with China and Pakistan, and India is part of the solution to most US challenges.

Walk softly and carry a message of mutual respect. That was the Obama administration’s initial approach to China, part of a policy of seeking dialogue on difficult issues with friends and enemies alike. But that was last year.

There has been Sino-American friction over too many issues, including the $6.4-billion arms sale to Taiwan and the Google-China feud. Washington doesn’t say so publicly, but Asia’s two big democracies, India and Japan, are being seen by the US as a bulwark against the rising influence of authoritarian China.

“India is a rising power and a responsible global power. That’s why I firmly believe that the relationship between the US and India will be a defining partnership in the 21st century,” Obama told a reception secretary of state Hillary Clinton threw for her Indian counterpart SM Krishna at the state department.

Sticking all the way with the message of how India and the US share common ideologies, Obama said Washington valued the partnership with India “not because of where India is on a map, but because of what we share and where we can go together.” Was that a dig at countries like Pakistan who have made US taxpayer’s pay billions for helping America resolve the Taliban-al-Qaeda problem in Afghanistan?

Many in the Obama administration feel America’s problem is Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Clinton, who has decided to take the relationship with India under her wings has warned Pakistan about the risks of exporting jihad to America.

Obama noted that Clinton is a “great admirer of India and I know the sentiment is shared and returned”.

The US has pledged to support India in bringing the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack to justice. Without taking names, both countries sent a message to Pakistan in the joint statement, by calling for “swift and credible steps” to eliminate terrorist safe havens.

“I am told one of secretary Clinton’s favourite restaurants in Delhi has added a new item to the menu — the Hillary platter,” he said.

“This is true,” he said turning to Clinton standing by his side and asked: “What does it have — chapati?”

“I am not going to divulge,” said a delighted Clinton.