John Bolton, who was the National Security Advisor in Donald Trump’s first government, strongly criticized the Trump administration’s policies towards India. He said that Trump destroyed the decades-long partnership with India.
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton said in an interview to Sky News that Donald Trump has spoiled decades of partnership with India in recent weeks. Trump has forced India to move closer to Russia and China. He told that before Trump 2.0, America had tried to distance India from its attachment with the Soviet Union and China during the Cold War.
He further said that Western countries, especially the US, have been trying for decades to distance India from its old ties with the Soviet Union and Russia, especially in the purchase of arms. He warned India about the threat from China, which is symbolized by the Asian Security Quadrilateral (Japan, India, Australia and the US). Bolton also pointed out that the Trump administration took several steps, such as abruptly halting trade talks, which angered India.
John Bolton said that India thought it was close to a trade deal with Trump, as did Britain, but Trump ignored it and imposed a 25 percent tariff. After this, Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on India. He did not impose any tariff on Russia. Trump did not impose any tariff on China, which is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas.
Bolton claimed that Trump tried to take full credit for the India-Pakistan conflict, which made the situation worse.
He said that when tensions between India and Pakistan rose due to a terrorist attack in Kashmir, the situation worsened initially but later calmed down. Trump took full credit for this and said that he prevented six or seven wars this year, for which he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. India is very angry at this.
Bolton is currently under the radar of the current government. Last week, his house and office were raided. According to American media, the reason for the raid is said to be confidential documents with Bolton.
