The United States is pushing forward with its plans for greater defense cooperation with India. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis visited New Delhi on Sept. 26 for talks with his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman. The talks covered several topics, including strategies to ramp up Indian economic engagement in Afghanistan as a part of U.S. President Donald Trump's South Asia strategy. The biggest regional provider of foreign aid to Afghanistan, India has lavished some $3 billion in development funding on the warring nation since the conflict started in 2001. India's goal is to use aid to shape Afghanistan into a country that won't bend to the whims of its nuclear archrival, Pakistan.

Still, there are some lines New Delhi won't cross. Sitharaman confirmed that India would not send any troops to Afghanistan. Doing so would undoubtedly provoke Pakistan, which has already called for India to avoid any political or military role in Afghanistan. Pakistan seeks to preempt Indian influence along its volatile western border with Afghanistan, the Durand Line. But India has another reason for its reluctance. A proponent of strategic autonomy, New Delhi wants to avoid creating expectations that it will commit troops to places where its economic interests happen to intersect with U.S. strategic interests, such as Iraq, a key supplier of crude oil to India.

Mattis also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to, among other things, make the case that India should award its $12 billion air force contract to Lockheed Martin, a U.S. based firm offering to manufacture its F-16 Block 70 fighter jets in India. Mattis' outreach is part of growing defense ties between the United States and India based on a shared rivalry with China. The partnership is part of a broader U.S. strategy to contain China through an informal, trilateral alliance with the two largest economies along China's periphery, India and Japan, both of which have fought a war with China.