US, India working to turn big words into pragmatic realities: Mattis

Washington, October 5 : Describing India as a force for stability in South Asia, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday said India-US political ties could be tightened together and the two sides are working to turn “big words” into “pragmatic realities”. “There are a number of things in motion right now, and decisions will be coming very soon,” Mattis told members of House Armed Services during a Congressional hearing on Afghanistan. “We’re both working to turn these big words into pragmatic realities. Because I see both sides working together on it I’m optimistic,” he said, adding that India-US political relationship could be tightened together. The defence secretary, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval during his visit to India last week, described India as a force for stability in South Asia.“They (India) are a force for stability in South Asia. They’re a force for stability in the Indo-Pacific region. They’re a nation coming into their own, economically, as a great nation, as they have steady growth rates going on right now,” he added.
“There’s an opportunity here that we have not experienced in decades to tie us together in terms of broadened level of cooperation and a natural alignment with each other’s interests,” he said. He said India and the US now had a strategic convergence of two natural partners, the two largest democracies in the world.