U.S.-India Relations

Britain declares the end of its colonial rule of the subcontinent and passes the Indian Independence Act [PDF], which divides the territory into Muslim-majority Pakistan and secular India, whose population is majority Hindu. Violent clashes between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims follow, and as many as a million die in bloodshed amidst the forced migration of up to twenty million people.

Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru meets with U.S. president Harry S. Truman on a multi-week tour tour of the United States. The trip precedes India’s formal proclamation of neutrality in the developing Cold War, in which it would take a leadership role within the Non-Alignment movement. This sets the tone for U.S.-India relations throughout the Cold War, creating constraints within the relationship, as well as opportunity for amity between Delhi and Moscow.

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent struggle for national independence, U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. arrives in India for a month-long tour. He meets with Prime Minister Nehru, Gandhi’s family and friends, and scholars. After returning to the United States, King says the trip reaffirmed his commitment to nonviolent resistance, calling it “the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.”

Norman Borlaug travels to India to begin testing high-yield wheat varieties. His collaboration with Indian scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan results in the “Green Revolution,” and India goes from food scarcity to self-sufficiency within a decade.

India and Pakistan become embroiled in their third conflict as Pakistan descends into a civil war that ends with the creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, on December 6. Despite evidence of the Pakistan Army’s violence against its own citizens in East Pakistan, the United States sides with Islamabad, given its mediating role in Nixon’s rapprochement with China. India also signs a twenty-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in August, sharply deviating from its previous position of non-alignment in the Cold War.

India detonates its first nuclear device, becoming the first nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to have declared nuclear capabilities. The move contributes to a period of estrangement between the United States and India that lasts over two decades.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits India on a three-day official trip to meet with Indian President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and Prime Minister Morarji Desai, and address Parliament. Desai reciprocates with an official six-day visit to Washington in June.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi meets with President Ronald Reagan during a state visit to improve the countries’ strained relationship. Gandhi highlights differences between the United States and India in a speech at the White House, but says they should “find a common area, how so ever small.” The leaders end up agreeing to increase cooperation and resolve a dispute over nuclear power, four years after the United States blocked shipments of low-enriched uranium fuel needed for India’s Tarapur power plant. Two years later, Vice President George H.W. Bush leads a high-level visit to New Delhi.

Prime Minister Gandhi is assassinated at her New Delhi residence by Sikh security guards seeking vengeance after her authorization of a military attack on a revered Sikh temple in Amritsar five months prior. Gandhi, the daughter of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, first took office in 1966 and served three consecutive terms until 1977. She served a fourth term starting in 1980 and held office until her death. Gandhi is succeeded as prime minister by her son, Rajiv.

Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gates travels to India and Pakistan to defuse tensions over the rapidly escalating insurgency in Kashmir. The trip comes amid fears of potential nuclear warfare between Pakistan and India.

The Indian government announces the completion of a series of underground nuclear tests close to the border with Pakistan, surprising U.S. intelligence organizations and raising fears the move could spark a regional nuclear arms race. The tests draw international condemnation and badly damage India’s relationship with the United States. After recalling the U.S. ambassador to India, President Bill Clinton imposes economic sanctions, required under U.S. law.

Pakistani forces infiltrate Indian-administered Kashmir. India launches air strikes in return, and armed conflict continues through early July. After President Clinton summons Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Washington for a Fourth of July emergency meeting, Sharif withdraws Pakistani forces from their positions beyond the Line of Control.

President Bill Clinton makes the first U.S. presidential trip to India since 1978. The visit ends the estrangement of the post-1998 Indian nuclear weapons tests, although the Clinton administration presses India’s government to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum is also established during the visit. As India’s economy begins to take off, the trip indicates a further shift in Washington’s regional orientation away from its Cold War alliance with Pakistan.

President George W. Bush’s administration lifts all remaining U.S. sanctions that were imposed on India after its 1998 nuclear test. Most economic sanctions had been eased within a few months of their imposition, and Congress authorized the president to remove all remaining restrictions in 1999.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits New Delhi, where she and Indian officials agree to start a dialogue on energy security. The visit underscores an upswing in relations despite tensions over India’s possible energy cooperation with Iran and the U.S. sale of fighter jets to Pakistan.

President Bush makes a visit to India, where he and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finalize the framework of the civil nuclear deal and boost security and economic ties. The nuclear deal, completed in July 2007, makes India the only country outside of the Nonproliferation Treaty that has nuclear capabilities and is allowed to participate in nuclear commerce.

Some of the first shipments of Indian mangoes arrive in the United States, ending an eighteen-year ban on importing the fruit. The ban is lifted as part of an agreement reached by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh in 2006 to double trade between the countries within three years. In response, India says it will relax restrictions on importing Harley-Davidson motorcycles from the United States. Bilateral trade in goods and services totaled around $45 billion in 2006 and rose to more than $70 billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

U.S. President Barack Obama hosts the inaugural state visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Despite its symbolic importance, the trip fails to yield any significant breakthroughs in the bilateral relationship.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner makes his first official trip to India to launch the new U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The ministerial-level meetings kick off an effort to institutionalize deeper bilateral relations on economic and financial sector issues.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visits India to bolster military ties in the wake of the Obama administration’s announced “pivot” to Asia. The trip marks the first such visit since former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates met with Indian counterparts in January 2010.

Manmohan Singh visits Washington in his last visit to the United States as India’s prime minister. The trip, which focuses on security, trade, immigration reform, and the civilian nuclear deal, marks the third meeting between Singh and Obama in four years. It comes amid a backdrop of domestic political issues in Delhi, a troubled Indian economy, and a government shutdown crippling Washington.

The U.S. embassy in India announces Ambassador Nancy Powell’s resignation in the wake of a dispute over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York. The announcement comes amid the run-up to high-profile national elections.

President Obama makes his second visit to India as head of state for India’s Republic Day celebrations. The president heralds the relationship between the world’s two largest democracies, saying, “America can be India’s best partner.” Obama and Prime Minister Modi announce a breakthrough on nuclear-related issues that could help implement the U.S.-India civil nuclear deal. Six months later, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and India’s defense minister, Manohar Parrikar, sign documents to renew the ten-year U.S.-India Defense Framework Agreement.

During Prime Minister Modi and President Obama’s final meeting in the White House, the United States elevates India to a major defense partner, a status no other country holds. An expansion of the ten-year defense agreement renewed in 2015, the designation, which became law in August 2018, means that India will enjoy some of the benefits of being a U.S. treaty ally, such as access to defense technology, though the alliance is not a formal one. In a speech before Congress a day later, Modi celebrates his country’s growing diplomatic and economic ties with the United States. Two months later, the United States and India sign an agreement on deeper military cooperation after nearly a decade of negotiations.

After confronting two Indian men at a restaurant in Kansas, yelling “get out of my country,” a white man shoots the two men, as well as a third who intervened. One of the men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, dies, and his friend, Alok Madasani, and the bystander are injured. India sends nearly one-fifth of the foreign students studying in the United States and more than three-quarters of the highly skilled workers approved for H-1B visas [PDF], but the racist attack sparks concern among Indians that the United States is not safe for them. Increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric causes some prospective applicants to rethink their plans. 

During a “two-plus-two” dialogue in New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis sign an agreement with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) gives India access to advanced communication technology used in U.S. defense equipment and allows real-time information sharing between the two countries’ militaries. The agreement had been under negotiation for nearly a decade.

At an Ahmedabad rally with an audience of more than one hundred thousand people, President Trump praises the U.S.-India relationship and Prime Minister Modi’s leadership. The two leaders announce plans to work together on counternarcotics and mental health. India agrees to purchase $3 billion in U.S. military equipment, and U.S.-based oil company ExxonMobil announces a deal with state-owned Indian Oil Corporation. Despite years of negotiations aimed at resolving trade issues, officials do not reach an agreement, with divisions remaining over agricultural products, tariffs, and other areas. Amid Trump’s visit, deadly clashes between Hindus and Muslims that are connected to a controversial citizenship law break out in New Delhi. Trump does not publicly mention the violence or take a firm stance on the law, which critics say discriminates against Muslims.

President Joe Biden hosts Prime Minister Modi at the White House alongside the prime ministers of Australia and Japan for the first in-person leaders’ summit of the informal security dialogue known as the Quad. The leaders agreed to coordinate their strategic goals, including by donating more than one billion COVID-19 vaccines globally and forming a low-carbon shipping network. A year earlier, the group convened their largest joint military exercise in a decade amid heightened regional tensions with China.