‘No War Is Distant’: US Envoy’s Message To India After PM Modi’s Russia Trip

In an interconnected world, "no war is distant anymore", US envoy Eric Garcetti said on Thursday that one must not just stand for peace, but also take concrete actions to make sure those who don't play by peaceful rules, their war machines "cannot continue unabated".

Garcetti, who was speaking at the Defence News Conclave organised by CUTS International, said: “I respect that India likes its strategic autonomy, but in times of conflict, there is no such thing as strategic autonomy. We will, in crisis moments, need to know each other. I don’t care what title we put to it, but we will need to know that we are trusted friends… that in times of need in the next day be acting together, that we’ll know each other’s equipment, that we know each other’s training, we’ll know each other’s systems, and we’ll know each other as human beings as well.”

He said, “No war is distant anymore, and we must not just stand for peace. We must take concrete actions to make sure those who don’t play by peaceful rules that their war machines cannot continue unabated. That’s something the US needs to know and that India needs to know together.”

"In the past three years, we have witnessed countries which have ignored sovereign borders. I don't have to remind how important borders are, it's a central principle to peace in our world," he added.

Garcetti's comments came days after PM Narendra Modi’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin sparked criticism from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The US State Department has been expressing its concerns about India’s ties with Russia. "India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and frank dialogue. And that includes our concerns about their relationship with Russia," US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier.

In his address at a defence news conclave, Garcetti described India-US ties as deep, ancient and increasingly broad, and said "today I think that culminates together as we look at the US-India defence partnership".

The event was held at the United Service Institution (USI), Delhi, and attended by many defence experts.

The American ambassador to India underlined that he had come to the event not to teach, preach or lecture, but always to listen in and learn and remind of their "commonly shared values".

"That when we stand on those principles and stand together, even in difficult times, we are friends, that we can show that principles are the guiding light of peace in our world. And together the world's two largest democracies can enhance the security, the stability of our region," he said.

Describing the essence of the bilateral ties as "commitment", he said, "It is a relationship. It is true, it is trusting and it is tried and it is tested."

"Love is the only thing you can give more and receive more of it back. It is not a finite thing, it's not a win or lose, it is not a zero-sum game. It is important for us as Americans and as Indians, the more we put into this relationship, the more we will get out (of it). The more we insist on kind of cynical calculations in the place of trusted relationships, the less we will get," the ambassador said.

He described the US-India defence partnership as one which stands "among the most consequential" in the world.