(L-R) U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov attend a Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting on September 6, 2024 at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, southwestern Germany.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Friday with top United States military leaders and more than 50 partner nations in Germany to press for more weapons support Friday as Washington announced it would provide another $250 million in security assistance to Kyiv.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the meeting of the leaders was taking place during a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as it conducts its first offensive operations of the war while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key hub in the Donbas.

So far the surprise assault inside Russia’s Kursk territory has not drawn away President Vladimir Putin’s focus from taking the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which provides critical rail and supply links for the Ukrainian army. Losing Pokrovsk could put additional Ukrainian cities at risk.

While Kursk has put Russia on the defensive, “we know Putin’s malice runs deep,” Mr. Austin cautioned in prepared remarks to the media before the Ukraine Defense Contact Group met. Moscow is pressing on, especially around Pokrovsk, Mr. Austin said.

Recent deadly airstrikes by Russia have renewed Mr. Zelensky’s calls for the U.S. to further loosen restrictions and obtain even greater Western capabilities to strike deeper inside Russia. However, the meeting Friday was expected to focus on resourcing more air defense and artillery supplies and shoring up gains on expanding Ukraine’s own defense industrial base, to put it on more solid footing as the final days of Joe Biden’s U.S. presidency wind down.

Mr. Zelensky said he would continue to press for the long-range strike capability. “Strong long-range decisions by partners are needed to bring the just peace we seek closer,” Mr. Zelensky said Friday on Telegram.

Western partner nations were working with Ukraine to source a substitute missile for its Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, Mr. Austin said.

The U.S. is also focused on resourcing a variety of air-to-ground missiles that the newly delivered F-16 fighter jets can carry, including the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, which could give Ukraine a longer-range cruise missile option, said Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, who spoke to reporters traveling with Mr. Austin.

No decisions on the munition have been made, LaPlante said, noting that policymakers would still have to decide whether to give Ukraine the longer-range capability.

“I would just put JASSM in that category, it’s something that is always being looked at,” LaPlante said. “Anything that’s an air-to-ground weapon is always being looked at.”

For the past two years, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have met to resource Ukraine’s mammoth artillery and air defense needs, ranging from hundreds of millions of rounds of small arms ammunition to some of the West’s most sophisticated air defense systems, and now fighter jets. The ask this month was more of the same — but different in that it was in person, and followed a similar in-person visit Thursday in Kyiv by Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer as Mr. Zelensky shores up U.S. support before the administration changes.

Since 2022, the member nations together have provided about $106 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. The U.S. has provided more than $56 billion of that total.

The German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet Mr. Zelensky in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will join their Japanese counterparts Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee, known as “2+2” security talks. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Japanese and U.S. defence chiefs and top diplomats will meet in Tokyo on July 28 for talks aimed at further bolstering their military cooperation, including by upgrading the command and control of U.S. forces and strengthening American-licensed missile production in Japan, amid a rising threat from China.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will join their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee, known as “2+2” security talks, to reaffirm their alliance following President Joe Biden ‘s withdrawal from the November Presidential race.

For the first time, the Ministers will hold separate talks to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to “extended deterrence,” which includes atomic weapons — a shift from Japan’s earlier reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue in the world’s only country to have suffered nuclear attacks — amid growing nuclear threats from Russia and China.

The Ministers are expected to discuss plans to upgrade command and control structures for U.S. forces in Japan by bringing in higher-ranked officers with commanding authority to create a U.S. counterpart for Japan’s unified command currently set for inauguration in March.

Japan is home to more than 50,000 U.S. troops, but a commander for the U.S. Forces Japan headquartered in Yokota in the western suburbs of Tokyo, tasked with managing their bases, has no commanding authority. Instead that comes from the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. “The plan to upgrade USFJ’s command and control capability is designed to help smooth joint exercises and operations,” officials say.

Ahead of the 2+2 talks, Mr. Kihara met with Austin and South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik for their first trilateral defence talks hosted by Tokyo and signed a memorandum based on their June agreement in Singapore that institutionalises their regular high-level talks, joint exercises and other exchanges.

Defence officials said the memorandum serves as the basis for future defence cooperation among the three countries despite possible changes of leadership, while showcasing their unity.

“The signing of this memorandum makes our trilateral cooperation unwavering even under changing global environments,” Mr. Kihara told reporters.

Mr Kihara also met Shin, who is the first South Korean defence chief to visit Japan in 15 years, and they agreed to take concrete steps to deepen their bilateral defence ties.

Japan has been accelerating its military buildup and has increased joint operations with the U.S., as well as with South Korea, while trying to strengthen its largely domestic defence industry.

Japan has significantly eased its arms export restrictions and in December accommodated a U.S. request for shipment of surface-to-air PAC-3 missile interceptors produced in Japan under an American license to replenish U.S. inventories, which have decreased due to its support for Ukraine.

The Ministers are also expected to discuss increased Japanese production of PAC-3 interceptors for export to the United States.

Japan and the U.S. have been accelerating arms industry cooperation following an April agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Joe Biden. The two sides have set up working groups for missile co-production and for the maintenance and repair of U.S. Navy ships and Air Force aircraft in the region.

While Japan’s role is largely designed to help U.S. weapons supply and keep its deterrence credible in the Indo-Pacific amid continuing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, Japanese officials say it will help strengthen the Japanese defence industry.

The U.S. is trying to build an Asia-Pacific version of NATO through its Indo-Pacific strategy to maintain its hegemony in the region, a Chinese defence official has said, stressing that Washington’s attempt to serve its “selfish” geopolitical interest is “doomed to fail”.

The remarks by Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, came in response to U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin’s speech during the Shangri La Dialogue on Saturday in which he spoke about strengthening alliances and partnerships across the region.

Held annually in Singapore, the Shangri La Dialogue is Asia’s premier defence summit.   Lieutenant-General Jing warned that if regional countries were to sign up for the U.S.’ Indo-Pacific strategy, they would be bound to the “U.S. war chariot” and be lured into “taking bullets for the U.S”.

He termed Mr. Austin’s remarks as “rhetoric” that “sounds good but does no good, one that serves “selfish U.S. geopolitical interests” and which is “doomed to fail”.

“The real purpose is to merge the small circle into the large circle of the Asia-Pacific version of NATO so as to maintain the hegemony led by the U.S.,” Mr. Jing, a member of the Chinese delegation, said on Saturday.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states — 30 European and 2 North American.

The Indo-Pacific strategy is creating division and confrontation, he said.

The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.

The U.S.’ Indo-Pacific strategy is the country’s vision for a free, open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific region in which all countries are empowered to adapt to the 21st century’s challenges and seize its many opportunities.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam claim parts of it.

The U.S. and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military assertiveness in the resource-rich region.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin looks on during the Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, on June 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials on June 1 that war with China was neither imminent nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding “miscalculations and misunderstandings.”

Mr. Austin’s comments at the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore came the day after he met for more than an hour on the sidelines with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, the first in-person meeting between the top defense officials since contacts between the American and Chinese militaries broke down in 2022 after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing.

Also read | Stabilising frayed ties, yet hurdles ahead

Neither side budged from their longstanding positions on Taiwan — which China claims as its own and has not ruled out using force to take — and on China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which has led to direct confrontations between China and other nations in the region, most notably the Philippines.

While declining to detail the specifics of their conversation, Mr. Austin said the most important thing was that the two were again talking.

“As long as we’re talking, we’re able to identify those issues that are troublesome and that we want to make sure that we have placed guardrails to ensure there are no misperceptions and no miscalculations … that can spiral out of control,” he said.

“You can only do that kind of thing if you are talking.”

Addressing the same forum on Friday night, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. bluntly outlined what could be at stake, saying that if a Filipino were killed as China confronts his country’s coast guard and merchant fleet to press its claims in the South China Sea, it would be “very, very close to what we define as an act of war and therefore we will respond accordingly.”

Mr. Marcos added that he assumed the Philippines’ treaty partners, which include the U.S., “hold the same standard.”

In his own speech, Mr. Austin lauded how Mr. Marcos “spoke so powerfully last night about how the Philippines is standing up for its sovereign rights under international law.” But when pressed later, he would not say how the U.S. might react if a Filipino were killed in a confrontation with China, calling it hypothetical.

He did say the U.S. commitment to the Philippines as a treaty partner is “ironclad,” while again stressing the importance of dialogue with China.

“There are a number of things that can happen at sea or in the air, we recognize that,” he said. “But our goal is to make sure that we don’t allow things to spiral out of control unnecessarily.”

Beijing in recent years has been rapidly expanding its navy and is becoming growingly assertive in pressing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.

The U.S., meantime, has been ramping up military exercises in the region with its allies to underscore its “free and open Indo-Pacific” concept, meant to emphasize freedom of navigation through the contested waters, including the Taiwan Strait.

Expressing the concerns of some in the region, Indonesian academic Dewi Fortuna Anwar said any de-escalation of tensions “would be very welcome to this part of the world,” but wondered whether the U.S. would allow China’s assertive military posture to grow uncontested if Washington’s main emphasis was now dialogue.

“We are also worried if you guys get too cozy, we also get trampled,” she said.

Mr. Austin said that many of those issues were best addressed through talks, but also assured that Washington will continue to ensure that the rights of nations in the region were protected and that they continued to have access to their exclusive economic zones.

“War or a fight with China is neither imminent, in my view, or unavoidable,” Austin said.

“Leaders of great power nations need to continue to work together to ensure that we’re doing things to reduce the opportunities for miscalculation and misunderstandings,” he said. “Every conversation is not going to be a happy conversation, but it is important that we continue to talk to each other. And it is important that we continue to support our allies and partners on their interests as well.”

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks at the Pentagon on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023 in Washington. The U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said.
| Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday, October 27, 2023 on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said, in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

The U.S. strikes reflect the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The U.S. wants to hit Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the U.S. as strongly as possible to deter future aggression, possibly fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas, while also working to avoid inflaming the region and provoking a wider conflict.

According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 12 attacks on U.S. bases and personnel in Iraq and four in Syria since Oct. 17. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said 21 U.S. personnel were injured in two of those assaults that used drones to target al-Asad Airbase in Iraq and al-Tanf Garrison in Syria.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17.”

He said President Joe Biden directed the narrowly tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.” And he added that the operation was separate and distinct from Israel’s war against Hamasa.

Mr. Austin said the U.S. does not seek a broader conflict, but if Iranian proxy groups continue, the U.S. won’t hesitate to take additional action to protect its forces.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Amman, Jordan, on October 13, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived, on October 13, at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv to meet with senior government leaders and see firsthand some of the U.S. weapons and security assistance that Washington rapidly delivered to Israel in the first week of its war with the militant Hamas group.

Mr. Austin is the second high-level U.S. official to visit Israel in two days. His quick trip from Brussels, where he was attending a NATO Defence Ministers meeting, comes a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region on October 12.

Mr. Blinken is continuing the frantic Mideast diplomacy, seeking to avert an expanded regional conflict. Mr. Austin is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, and the Israeli War Cabinet.

His arrival comes as Israel’s military directed hundreds of thousands of residents in Gaza City to evacuate “for their own safety and protection,” ahead of a feared Israeli ground offensive. Gaza’s Hamas rulers responded by calling on Palestinians to “remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm” against Israel.

Defence officials travelling with Mr. Austin said he wants to underscore America’s unwavering support for the people of Israel and that the United States is committed to making sure the country has what it needs to defend itself.

A senior defence official said the U.S. has already given Israel small diameter bombs as well as interceptor missiles for its Iron Dome system and more will be delivered. Other munitions are expected to arrive on October 13.

Mr. Austin has spoken nearly daily with Gallant, and directed the rapid shift of the U.S. ships, intelligence support and other assets to Israel and the region.

Within hours after the brutal Hamas attack across the border into Israel, the U.S. moved warships and aircraft to the region.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group is already in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a second carrier was departing on Friday from Virginia, also heading to the region.

Mr. Austin declined to say if the U.S. is doing surveillance flights in the region, but the U.S. is providing intelligence and other planning assistance to the Israelis, including advice on the hostage situation.

A day after visiting Israel to offer the Joe Biden administration’s diplomatic support in person, Mr. Blinken was in Jordan on Friday and held talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II. They did not speak to reporters after the meeting.

Antony Blinken then went on to a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has a home in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

In the meeting with the king, Mr. Blinken discussed Hamas’ attack last Saturday and efforts to release all hostages the militants seized, as well as efforts to “prevent the conflict from widening,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr. Blinken “underscored that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination and discussed ways to address the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza while Israel conducts legitimate security operations to defend itself from terrorism.” The monarch rules over a country with a large Palestinian population and has a vested interest in their status while Abbas runs the Palestinian Authority that controls the West Bank.

According to a palace statement, Abdullah stressed the need to open humanitarian corridors for medical aid and relief into Gaza while protecting civilians and working to end the escalation of the conflict.

He appealed against hindering the work of international agencies and warned against any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza and elsewhere, or to cause their internal displacement.

Earlier on Friday, Israel’s military had told some one million Palestinians living in Gaza to evacuate the north, according to the United Nations — an unprecedented order for almost half the population of the sealed-off territory ahead an expected ground invasion by Israel against the ruling Hamas.

The King also urged for the protection of innocent civilians on all sides, in line with shared human values, international law, and international humanitarian law.

Later Friday, Mr. Blinken is to fly to Doha for meetings with Qatari officials who have close contacts with the Hamas leadership and have been exploring an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for the release of dozens of Israelis and foreigners taken hostage by Hamas during the unprecedented incursion of the militants into southern Israel last weekend.

Antony Blinken will make a brief stop in Bahrain and end the day in Saudi Arabia, a key player in the Arab world that has been considering normalising ties with Israel, a U.S.-mediated process that is now on hold. He will also travel to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt over the weekend.

Washington:

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Israel Friday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the country reels from a devastating attack by Hamas militants that has left thousands dead, an American defence official said.

Austin’s trip — which follows a visit to Israel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken — will also include meetings with defence officials and the country’s emergency government, the US official said Thursday.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people in Israel and took about 150 hostages in their surprise onslaught from Gaza on Saturday. Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza for six days, claiming over 1,350 lives.

Washington responded by sending an aircraft carrier and other warships to the eastern Mediterranean and promising munitions and other equipment to Israel.

Austin told journalists in Brussels on Thursday that the United States had no “early warnings or indications” that the Islamist group would launch its bloody assault.

He also said Washington has not placed any conditions on the way Israel can use the weapons it provides.

“This is a professional military, led by professional leadership, and we would hope and expect that they would do the right things in the prosecution of their campaign,” he said.

Israel has prepared for a possible ground invasion of the Palestinian territory after what has been labelled Israel’s 9/11.

Fears have grown for Gaza’s 2.4 million people now enduring the fifth war in 15 years in the coastal enclave, which has also seen Israel cut off water, food and power supplies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin addresses a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on Oct. 11, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the United States will provide a new $200 million military assistance package for Ukraine, as opposition from hardline Republican lawmakers puts future aid for Kyiv in doubt.

“I’m proud that the United States will announce its latest security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $200 million,” Austin said alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky at the opening of a meeting of Kyiv’s international supporters in Brussels.

The package includes air defence munitions, artillery and rocket ammunition and anti-tank weapons, among other items, the U.S. defence chief said.

It is the first package announced since Congress dropped new funding for Kyiv from a recent bill to avert a U.S. government shutdown – a move that called into doubt Washington’s continued commitment to aiding Ukraine’s fight against invading Russian forces.

Austin nonetheless insisted Wednesday – as he has before – that the United States “will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Even in the absence of further action by Congress, the U.S. government still has authority to withdraw more than $5 billion in equipment for Ukraine from American military stocks.

However, there is only $1.6 billion in remaining funding to replace donated gear, and it is unclear if Washington will provide assistance to Ukraine that creates gaps it cannot immediately fill.

Washington is by far the biggest donor of military aid to Kyiv.

Austin said the United States has committed some $43.9 billion in security assistance since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while all other donors have promised more than $33 billion.

“I continue to firmly believe that our support for the forces of freedom in Ukraine will hold fast in any season or any storm,” he said.

Pro-Israel counter-protesters wave signs during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Israeli embassy, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, in San Francisco.
| Photo Credit: AP

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on October 9 he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the attack by Hamas that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides. Americans were reported to be among those killed and missing.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, and its approximately 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional weapons from reaching Hamas and conducting surveillance.

The large deployment reflects a U.S. desire to deter any regional expansion of the conflict. But the Israeli government formally declared war Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas.

Preliminary reports indicate that at least four American citizens were killed in the attacks and an additional seven were missing and unaccounted for, according to a U.S. official. The numbers were in flux and could change as a fuller accounting is compiled, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss initial reports received by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Most, if not all, of those reported dead or missing are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, the official said.

Along with the Ford, the U.S. is sending the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt, and the U.S. is augmenting Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

“The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required,” Mr. Austin said in a statement.

In addition, the Biden administration “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” Mr. Austin said.

The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier strike group (was already in the Mediterranean. Last week it was conducting naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea. The carrier is in its first full deployment.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a telephone call on October 9, discussed “the taking of hostages by Hamas terrorists, including entire families, the elderly, and young children,” according to a White House statement describing their conversation. Mr. Biden stressed that all countries “must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities.”

The President updated Mr. Netanyahu on U.S. diplomatic efforts and said additional assistance for Israeli forces was on the way, with more to come in the days ahead, the White House said.

They also discussed ways “to ensure that no enemies of Israel believe they can or should seek advantage from the current situation.”

As part of the U.S. effort to deter further escalation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. In each call, he encouraged each country’s “continued engagement” and “highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting the attacks by Hamas and securing the release of all hostages,” department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in separate statements on the three calls.

On Capitol Hill, the House is preparing a bipartisan resolution that says it “stands with Israel” and condemns “Hamas’ brutal war.”

The resolution from the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to be among the first items considered for voting once the House elects a new speaker.

“Now is the time to show the world the United States firmly stands with our friend and ally Israel in our condemnation of this heinous attack by Iran-backed terrorists,” said the committee chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

Washington:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and held a productive conversation with him on deepening bilateral defence cooperation, including in the co-production of defence articles, and exchanged perspectives on a variety of security issues.

He also met Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

After his meeting with Austin at the Pentagon on Friday, Mr Jaishankar posted on X, “Productive conversation on our bilateral defence cooperation. Useful exchange on global security challenges.”

“I was glad to host Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar at the Pentagon today to discuss US-India cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region,” Austin said.

The Pentagon said the two officials exchanged perspectives on a variety of security issues, including recent developments in East Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

“Austin and Jaishankar discussed opportunities to deepen bilateral defence cooperation, including expanded defence industrial cooperation and co-production of defence articles; streamlined logistics procedures to enhance operational cooperation; and continued implementation of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X),” said Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.

In the meeting with the Commerce Secretary, they appreciated the significant progress in technology collaboration and economic partnership this year.

“Agreed to enhance their momentum,” Mr Jaishankar said.

A day earlier, he had meetings with National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He also interacted with the business community over luncheon on Thursday at the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum and the US India Business Council (USIBC) on Friday.

“A stimulating meeting today with the US defence industry at @USIBC. Discussed how strategic convergence, technology collaboration and easier-to-do business are coming together to transform our defence partnership,” Mr Jaishankar posted on X.

He also had a chance to meet members of the US Congress and think-tank representatives.

“This year, of course, I think, the big event is still in a sense the determining context is our prime minister’s visit (in June). A lot of what we’ve been doing since then has been to realise the various agreements and understandings that were reached,” Mr Jaishankar told Indian reporters at a meeting at the Indian Embassy here.

“A lot of our discussions were in stock-taking to assess the progress to see what is it we should be doing more or where is it that has not been the progress matching expectations. We hope now to take that entire process forward into the 2 2 meeting, which will take place a few weeks from now,” he said.

“We look forward to welcoming secretaries Blinken and Austin to India,” he added.

In a statement, USTR said that Tai and Mr Jaishankar took stock of recent developments and positive momentum in the US-India trade relationship following the resolution of seven long-standing disputes at the World Trade Organisation and India’s reduction of tariffs on certain US products.

“They also discussed their interest in working more constructively on the broader WTO agenda, including reforming the organisation to serve the needs of all people,” said the statement.

“Tai and Jaishankar shared views on India’s important role in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework as well as potential sectors for further collaboration on supply chain resilience, including critical minerals,” USTR said.

The two leaders agreed to remain in contact on these and other issues as the respective teams continue planning the next meeting of the US-India Trade Policy Forum, it said.

On Saturday, Mr Jaishankar is scheduled to have interaction with eminent Indian-Americans from across the country at the India House.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)