In today’s time, India is friendly with several nations. It is unlikely you would name the United States, Japan, Isreal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Russia. These six nations are having excellent connections with India at present. Now we will tell you why these six nations are friends of India and also will let you know that who are the enemies of India.
India’s Allies
1. The United States of America (USA)
The US may ostensibly be India’s best foreign policy partner. The former President Donald Trump welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting. Their joint agreement emphasizes strengthening their defence partnership, cooperating on counterterrorism efforts and boosting economic ties. The U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis signed an agreement with the Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and earlier defence minister, current finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) gave India access to advanced communication technology used in the U.S. On 24th February, former President of USA, Donald Trump made his first visit to India. The two leaders announced to work together on counternarcotics and mental health. India agreed to purchase three billion dollars in U.S military equipment, and USA-based oil company ExxonMobil announced a deal with Indian Oil Corporation.
2. Japan
India’s special strategic and global partnership with Japan is a key component of Indian grand strategy in the post-Cold War era driven by their economic complementarity and shared concerns over China’s rise and expanding footprint in their neighbourhoods. In Modi’s words, this relationship can exercise a profound influence on shaping the course of Asia and our interlinked ocean regions. India and Japan finalised the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) in 2020, which facilitates the sharing of supplies and services by their respective armed forces. With Modi at the helm, India-Japan military cooperation progressed into moderate alignment and went beyond initiatives proposed in the initial security agreement. Such a rapidly expanding security agenda can be credited to his government taking the lead with ideas to advance cooperation.
3. Isreal
India and Isreal have intensified their defence collaboration over the past decade, with Isreal now among the top three suppliers of weapons for India. The cooperation of India-Isreal extends to developing military gear, such as the upgraded Barak-eight air defence system. Also, India is a key buyer of Israeli drones with a fleet of more than 150 Israeli-made UAVs. India’s recent order to buy 8,000 Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel’s state-owned defence giant Rafael is a good case in point. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli counterpart tweeted that the Indian government informed the Israeli side that it’s putting the deal back on track. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been pushing Netanyahu to transfer some of Israel’s defence production to India, in a bid to boost the country’s manufacturing base and help create jobs for millions of Indians.
4. Afghanistan
As per the International Business Times report, India delivered three Russia-made Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan in December 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on December 25, 2016, inaugurated the Afghan Parliament Building. India had constructed the new building at 90 million US Dollars, as a sign of friendship.
5. Bhutan
Both India and Bhutan are founding members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that deals with the economic, social and cultural development of the South Asian Region. India and Bhutan also share other multilateral forums such as BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal), BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), etc.
6. Russia
This country is India’s oldest friend since the 1960s and has provided India with a lot of defence equipment. It also helped India in many sectors too.
Enemies of India
1. China
At the time when India was fighting a devastating second COVID-19 wave, China took advantage to stealthily infiltrate key border areas in India’s high-altitude Ladakh region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to buckle with China as India has made clear that bilateral ties cannot return to normal as long as there is, to quote Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, “friction, coercion, intimidation and bloodshed on the border.”
2. Pakistan
This country is an all-time rival of India after India and Pakistan became a separate country. in 1947. The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict between India and Pakistan. As both of them claimed the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir is their territory. Kashmir is situated in India, but Pakistan feels that it’s their territory.
