U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s arrival in New Delhi on Sunday comes at a critical moment, just two weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s State visit to Washington, DC. As with any ministerial visit, the secretary and his counterpart, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, will take stock of recent successes and coming opportunities. They will discuss possible deliverables for the upcoming Biden-Modi summit. But the visit will be a true success if they dig into discussions of the kind of reciprocal expectations that can take the U.S.-India defense partnership to new heights.

--SSP alum Sameer Lalwani and Vikram J. Singh writing for USIP