New Delhi:
India's decision to exclude two American companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, from its estimated USD 11 billion 126 fighter jet deal is strategically short-sighted and would be a setback to Indo-US ties, well-known American experts on South Asian affairs have said.
"The Indian decision to eliminate the two US firms from the MMRCA competition is strategically short-sighted. There is little doubt that the decision will set the US India relationship back," said Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation, who is known as one of the best known friend of India in Washington's academia and think-tank.
Ashely Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the move will raise questions about why the United States should bend backwards to accommodate India.
"You can imagine that there is great disappointment within the US government with the decision. It will lead many in the US to conclude that India has settled for a plane, not a relationship, and if that is the case, it will raise questions about why the United States should bend backwards to accommodate India," he said.
"I think the way the decision was announced was also unsettling: the GOI (Government of India) knew full well the importance the administration attached to this sale. A quiet intimation of the coming decision would have helped," said Tellis who played a key role in the Bush Administration during the civilian nuclear deal.
"A wasted opportunity to strengthen US-Indian relations," observed Michael Krepon, co-founder of Stimson, and director of the South Asia and Space Security programs. However, this did not come as a surprise to Christine Fair, Assistant Professor Georgetown University.
"I have been dubious for years that India would purchase these platforms from the United States. As is well known, such sales were trumpeted as being possible in the wake of the Indo-US nuclear deal and indeed likely," she said.
"I was also suspicious of those claims at the time and remained so. Over the long run, I doubt that this will affect the US-India relationship and hopefully it will vitiate some of the Panglossian optimism that has surrounded the prospects of US large-ticket sales to India. There are other opportunities that the two countries should be exploring that are important and less politically laden," Christian Fair said. Curtis said, two developments taken together stalled civil nuclear cooperation and the decision to de-select the US companies for the fighter air craft deal -- threaten to cast a pall on relations for the remainder of the Obama administration.
"After a highly successful Obama visit last fall, in which the US President gave a nod to Indian Security Council membership, Washington officials will begin to ask what benefits the US derives from its dedicated efforts to improve the relationship," she said.