As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh heads to Washington later this month, the deepening regional crisis in Afghanistan, Pakistan and beyond is thrusting itself on to the very top of the bilateral agenda.

The gathering tension — internal, bilateral and regional — across the western and north-western flanks of the subcontinent must begin to over-ride four widespread perceptions or misperceptions about his visit to Washington.

The first is that the prime minister is likely to duck the most important national security debate in Washington today — on the future of America’s role in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The second, India may have little to offer the United States on Afghanistan and even less on Pakistan. The third is that after departure of George W. Bush from the White House, Washington is drawn towards the CCP in Beijing on global issues and to the GHQ in Rawalpindi on regional security questions, leaving the relationship with India in a limbo. The fourth is that both sides are thinking too small about the meeting between Dr Singh and Obama. Instead of using the visit to unveil a transformative agenda, the fears are that Delhi and Washington may be settling for a long list of minor deliverables.

Sceptics have argued that by giving Dr Singh the much sought-after privilege of the first state visit in the Obama White House, the administration might be absolving itself of the responsibility to do anything significant with India. Put simply the cynical view of the prime minister’s visit to Washington is that it will be long on rhetoric but short on substance. But the unfolding developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan are too consequential for the national security of both India and the United States for their leaders to waste the opportunity for thinking at the highest levels about political cooperation on stabilising the north-western parts of the Subcontinent.

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