TOI Correspondent from Washington:Mike Waltz, a decorated combat veteran-turned-lawmaker and China hawk, who is also co-chair of the India caucus on the Hill and has proposed a formal alliance with India, will be Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor. The US President-elect has also zeroed in on Florida senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security in a sign that he will entrust policy making and execution to elected loyalists rather than the so-called “deep state” that is anathema to MAGA base.
Trump has made no formal announcement except for posting that he intends to nominate Elise Stefanik, another lawmaker, as US Ambassador to the United Nations, but the MAGAsphere is rife with celebration about leaks from the President-elect’s inner circle about hardliners being preferred over mainstream Republican establishment veterans who’ve long dominated policy in Washington DC.
Waltz, 50, a former Green Beret who served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, is particularly tough on China and Iran, with a strong counter-terrorism outlook, having served as CT czar to them US vice-president Dick Cheney — a Trump bete-noire. Curiously, at a time Trump wanted to pull out of Afghanistan, he also opposed withdrawing troops without stringent conditions, among them, seeking a certification from the director of national intelligence that Taliban would not associate with Al Qaeda.
More strikingly for New Delhi, Waltz is an ardent votary of a formal US-India alliance, about which India is wary, in keeping with the broad principle that “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” In a 2021 op-ed he co-authored with Nikki Haley, Waltz called for prioritizing relationships that strengthen US standing in the world, saying, “The place to start is India. It’s time to form an alliance.”
“As a nuclear power with more than 1 million troops, a growing navy, a top-tier space program, and a proven history of economic and military cooperation with the United States, India would make a strong ally. An alliance with India would allow both countries to maintain and expand their global strength. And together with Japan and Australia, it would enable the United States to form a real deterrent to potential terrorist threats in Afghanistan as well as counter China,” they wrote. Waltz is also co-chair of the Space Force caucus on the Hill.
Making a strong case for an US-India alliance, Waltz and Haley pointed to India operating the Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan, maintaining it the only air base with the proximity to conduct counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan, and arguing that with an alliance, India could allow Washington to access to strategic bases to protect US. interests in Afghanistan and the broader region.
“We now only have one partner who can effectively keep a watchful eye on Afghanistan. It’s the same partner that can keep track of China’s southern flank: India.,” they wrote, adding that
” US-India alliance would also give us an edge over China.”
“Like the United States, India recognizes that China is a rapidly growing threat. Not only is it attempting to capitalize on our withdrawal from Afghanistan, which goes against both the United States and India’s interests, China is also pressuring India on its own borders,” they said.
The duo also warned that the growing collusion between China and Pakistan poses serious security risks for both India and the United States. “For India, a US alliance would be a bulwark against a two-fronted conflict on its borders. For the United States, an alliance would help blunt Pakistan’s influence—a state sponsor of terrorism now propped up by Chinese investments—in Afghanistan. We need a new partner to prevent the creation of a terrorist super state that can attack our country again,” they said.
Beyond the strategic and military sphere, Waltz and Haley also cited economic imperatives — some of which does not fit in with MAGA thinking — in seeking and “upgrade” of the current partnership into a formal alliance. Arguing that the US and India also share economic concerns, including the need for a stable supply chain, they said India’s enormous workforce offers an opportunity for the US to alter its supply chain dependence on China.
“We can rely on India as a major source of pharmaceuticals, technology, and critical minerals, supplementing our own domestic manufacturing capabilities,” they wrote, despite hardline MAGA philosophy of isolationism and not trusting any country.
Trump’s prospective Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also a hardliner on China and a national security hawk whose belligerence will test Trump’s inclination to cut deals — and losses to the US military. Despite their past hardline stance on various national security issues, both Waltz and Rubio are expected to defer to the MAGA supremo in what will virtually be an imperial court in the White House starting January 20, 2025.