Indo-Pacific funds

The US has been avidly encouraging India to become a permanent fixture of its naval strategy for Asia-Pacific but its latest budget outlay for 2021 comes as a disappointment as far as the US State Department’s bankrolling of the joint strategy is concerned. Foreign Military Financing grant for 2021 is proposed at a whopping $5.5 billion. But the East Asia and Pacific region will get just $85.9 million and South and Central Asia $30 million, while the Middle East takes the bulk of the cake, $ 5.1 billion. There are several countries in the Middle East whose allocation is more than for the entire Asia Pacific region.

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The US priorities are oriented towards countering Iranian influence and ensuring the defeat of ISIS, al-Qaida, etc. In 2018, too, despite the US rhetoric about Asia-Pacific, the State Department budget request was only $42 million for East Asia and the Pacific.

The 2021 request for International Military Education Training (IMET) that funds the highly sought after US military courses is down to $104 million from $112 million, with Indo-Pacific to receive just a quarter. For India, IMET is in the range of $1.5 million, much less than $3.7 million for Pakistan. The message is clear. India will have to fend on its own while dovetailing its oceanic security strategy with that of the US. — TNS