THE United States and India have decided to formalise a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA).  This was announced after talks between the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in Delhi on April 12.

The two sides announced that the logistics sharing agreement will be named as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).  This is intended to distract attention from the fact that for all practical purposes, it is the LSA. The two ministers announced that the text of the agreement would be ready in a few weeks time. The signing of the logistics agreement will be the biggest sell-out of India’s strategic interests by the Modi government – an anti-national act without parallel.

WHAT IS

THE LSA?

The Logistics Support Agreement is signed by the United States with its military allies to enable its armed forces to use the base facilities of the concerned countries.  For instance, in Philippines and South Korea, there are agreements of this nature.  The LSA, which is another name for the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA),  provides for the respective militaries use for each other’s base facilities for logistics support such as refuelling, repair and maintenance facilities.  It can also provide for supply of defence equipments, if required.  Such an agreement would facilitate the United States using India’s air force and naval facilities as a base for its armed forces and for military operations against third countries.

With such an agreement in place, the United States would be able to access India’s air force bases and naval ports for its armed forces for any military operations such as its earlier war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  By signing such an agreement, India will be operationalising its status as a military ally of the United States within the Defence Framework Agreement that has already been renewed for the next ten years. 

It is this agreement, which the United States was pursuing India to sign for the past ten years, ever since the UPA government signed the ten-year Defence Framework Agreement with the United States in June 2005. At that time, the Left parties, which were supporting the UPA government,  strongly opposed the Framework Agreement and in talks with the UPA leadership made it clear that signing of the LSA would be tantamount to converting India into a military ally of the United States.  There was an unwritten assurance that the government would not sign the LSA.

YOKING INDIA

TO US

After the Modi government took office, last year in July, the Defence Framework Agreement was renewed for another ten years.  The defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, went to Washington last year and indicated that the government was having an open mind on the signing of the three agreements which Americans call the “foundational agreements”.  These are the LSA and two other agreements, the Communication and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA).  One may ask what are these foundational agreements for?  It is for yoking the Indian armed forces with that of the US military to fulfil the strategic goal of the United States and Asia. 

Manohar Parrikar is trying to hoodwink the people by stating that under the logistics agreement, no American troops will be stationed at our bases. If US naval ships and warplanes are to be refuelled, repaired and maintenance work done, can this be done by Indian personnel?  US armed forces personnel will be permanently stationed for this purpose and they will rotate these personnel as per their needs.

Ashton Carter was also being disingenuous in claiming that such facilities would be used in the event of earthquakes and national calamities.  He has himself made it clear in a speech to Council of Foreign Relations in New York before embarking on his visit to India, that he views  India as being part of the network of countries in Asia with whom the US is wearing partnerships to bolster “American and regional security”.  According to him, India is involved in two trilateral mechanisms – the US-Japan-India partnership and the Japan-Australia-India emerging alliance.  This is a security and military alliance which serves the US goal to contain China. 

SELLING

US ARMS

The other aspect in the defence sphere is the speed with which the Modi government is fulfilling the other agenda of the US administration. The signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal was made contingent on the United States becoming the largest and major supplier of arms and defence equipment to India.  This linkage was made clear during the 123 Agreement.  The US has now emerged as the largest supplier of defence equipment.

The Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) was set-up in 2012 to lure India with the prospect of buying high technology defence equipment and ensure that India became a customer for standard US weapons and equipment. Having done so, the US insists India sign the Communication and Information Security Agreement, which will enable India to access advanced radio and satellite communications. Doing so will allow the US to monitor all communications within the Indian defence systems. 

The demand for “interoperability” and the supply of defence technology and communications equipments has, thus, become the logic for signing the so-called three foundational agreements.

Whenever the BJP has come to power at the centre, it has shown great interest in aligning with the US strategic and military goals.  It was prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who declared India a natural ally of the United States. The Defence Framework Agreement which was signed by the UPA government in June 2005 was a culmination of the protracted negotiations which began under the NDA government.

LYNCHPIN IN

ASIA PIVOT

It may be recalled that when the US pivot to Asia was announced four years back, as part of the strategy to contain China, the then US secretary for defence, Leon Panetta, had claimed that India would be a `lynchpin” in the US rebalancing to Asia.  The rebalancing involved shifting 60 percent of the US naval resources to the Asia-Pacific region. It is in this context that the US stresses maritime cooperation with India. 

The US plan to draw India into this Asia strategy to counter China is now being put into practice. During the visit of President Obama in January 2015, a Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean was issued. This declared, for the first time, a convergence of the US pivot to Asia and the Act East Policy of India.  US Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, has cited this joint statement for operationalising closer military and strategic cooperation which is directed against China. 

SOVEREIGNTY

COMPROMISED

The burgeoning military alliance with the United States portends serious consequences for India’s foreign policy and strategic autonomy.  It is ironical that at the precise time the BJP-RSS combine is whipping up a “nationalist” fervour and targeting so-called anti-national activities in the country, the Modi government has taken a series of policy measures, both in the external and domestic spheres, which are anti-national and detrimental to national interests. 

It is of utmost importance that the Modi government’s military embrace of the United States and its dangerous consequences are exposed and taken to the people.  It is an unfortunate fact that the secular bourgeois parties across the spectrum have little awareness about the serious consequences of jeopardising national sovereignty with such military and strategic alliance with the US. They should wake up to the danger posed. The Left and democratic forces in the country have to unitedly take up this campaign to stop the signing of the logistics agreement.