United States President Joe Biden completed his first 100 days at the Oval Office in April. It was a good start for the 46th US president in these challenging times with South Asia emerging as the central point of his foreign policy. The course of action that he has initiated in the region can be encapsulated in four points - US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan; considering China as a strategic competitor and threat to US’ world power; a deep and strategic partnership with India: and disengagement with Pakistan.

Afghanistan

In his address to the Congress a day before his 100th day as president, Biden stated: "American leadership means ending the forever war in Afghanistan … War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking of nation-building.," referring to what has been the longest war in the US history amid several instances of “service members serving in the same war as their parents once did.”

However, General Kenneth Frank McKenzie JR, the commander of the US forces in the Middle East, Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, who leads NATO forces in Afghanistan, and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all have expressed their concern over the decision to withdraw troops. The return of all US troops by 11 September 2021 will have great implications for regional security as well as US national interest in the region.

The bombings in a Kabul school on Saturday, May 8, leaving over 80 people are dead and nearly twice as many wounded, are a fearsome preview of the security and humanitarian concerns. The attack on the school at a timing scheduled for girls is an intimidating tactic to resist female education. One may recall religious minorities and women were the worst sufferers under the Taliban rule. It is feared that the Taliban would impose its fundamentalist ideology if it returned to power.

China

For more than a decade, China has been emerging as a serious concern to the US’ pre-eminent status as a world superpower. China's growing economic, military, and technological prowess poses a challenge to the US interests in the region. Most of the US official documents clearly identify China as a challenge for the US and its allies. So, Biden has focused his strategy on counterbalancing China by regarding the Indo-Pacific as its 'Priority theatre’. Thus Washington hosted a virtual Quad summit with India, Australia, and Japan on March 12. 

From his Munich Security Conference on 19 February 2021 to the address to Congress on March 29, Biden has repeatedly announced a return to multilateralism and stressed on forging alliances and working with like-minded democracies to deter the shared challenges of authoritarianism, assault to democracy and human rights. For example, the Interim National Strategic Security Guidance, which was released on March 3, stated: “… distribution of power across the world is changing, creating new threats. China, in particular, has rapidly become more assertive. It is the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system.”  

The Annual Threat Assessment report by US National Intelligence Department released on April 9, 2021, states: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will continue its whole-of-government efforts to spread China’s influence, undercut that of the United States, drive wedges between Washington and its allies and partners, and foster new international norms that favor the authoritarian Chinese system.”

US-India 

The first 100 days of President Biden has been defining for US-India relations. The customary telephone call between President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon reached a stage where they saw each other virtually in the Quad leader’s summit. This strategic engagement happening so early in Biden’s presidency articulates the significance of India’s role in the US’s ‘priority theatre’. Washington acknowledged that India as a pre-eminent power in Indo-Pacific, and also an emerging economic and military power, has to play a crucial role in the region’s security architecture.

There was some concern about the bilateral relations when critics raised the issue of the US Navy warship, USS John Paul Jones, passing through India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Lakshadweep islands without seeking permission and the delayed response of the Biden administration to India’s fervent request for vaccine raw material to contain the deadly Covid-19 second wave. However, the course correction was in place and the US showed its solidarity with India  by sending medical support and financial assistance of nearly half a billion dollars. 

Like a “natural ally” Biden tweeted: “Just as India sent aid to the United States as our hospitals were strained during the early pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need.”

In addition, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, during his recent visit to India in March, described India “as an increasingly important partner among today’s rapidly shifting international dynamics” after meeting Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. Both the countries look for opportunities to strengthen security ties and defense partnership through regional security cooperation and military interoperability and defense trade.

It is likely that under the Biden administration US-India relations will grow stronger and will have more routes to work on a range of issues -- free and open Indo-Pacific, restoring peace in Afghanistan, arms control, countering aggressive behavior of China and climate crisis with stress on multilateralism .

Pakistan

The change of guard in the White House post an unconventional term of Donald Trump was expected to restore some trust in the strained relationship with Pakistan. But contrary to expectations, recent developments in the region have not indicated much progress in US-Pakistan bilateral relations under Biden.

Biden’s announcement of a full American troop withdrawal after the longest war against terrorism and the lengthiest in American history does not bestow any gift to a historically supported ally in the ‘war on terror’. This was a striking but more insightful miss, although Pakistan played an important role in bringing the Taliban to Afghan peace talks. 

Additionally, President Biden has not personally spoken even once to Prime Minister Imran Khan since coming to office. Washington’s displeasure towards Pakistan could be seen in the visit of two top officials, Defense Secretary Austin and Special Climate Envoy John Kerry, to India while avoiding any trip to Pakistan. Considering the strong influence of China and Russia on Pakistan, a reset in the strategic alliance does not look likely soon from Washington’s perspective.

To sum up, Biden’s 100 days in office is a mix of hope tinged with a few uncertainties for South Asia. However, the US-India partnership will continue to thrive in all its dimensions.

(The author is Senior Writer at the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers. The views are personal. She can be contacted at is408@scarletmail.rutgers.edu. She tweets @Indu0109.)