US & India not aligned on Pakistan, Russia but their overall closeness outweighs it all

News Snapshot:

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for what is only the third state visit by an Indian leader to the United States, where do India-US relations stand today? For more than two decades, commentators in both countries have been prone to writing off relations as difficult and underwhelming, characterised more by mistrust than opportunity. Stories about differences – whether on Pakistan or Ukraine, trade or domestic politics – tend to predominate news coverage in both countries. Yet, despite some important divergences, this is a relationship in which leaders as diverse as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Modi on the...