Towards an Indo-U.S. Alliance

President Trump will host his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the White House for the next two days. It’s an opportunity to enhance a relationship that could be transformative on at least two fronts.

First, the Indians represent the biggest impediment in Asia to the threat we and they both face from Communist China’s ambitions.  Over the past few decades, India has fought a succession of border conflicts with China and its proxy, Pakistan.  It is in America’s interest to strengthen India’s capacity to contend with, and deter, what are, at best, two U.S. “frienemies.”

Second, few nations understand better than India the threat Donald Trump calls “radical Islamic terrorism.”  Brutally conquered by Sharia-supremacists centuries ago and repeatedly subjected to their jihad ever since, India is a natural ally in Mr. Trump’s promise to rid the earth of that scourge.