Barack Obama will aim to deepen the US strategic relationship with India when he visits over the weekend and is likely to back India’s long-standing desire for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.
The move, which would help satisfy India’s craving for recognition of its power and put it on a level footing with China, would also be designed to encourage India to assist the US in its most pressing goals, including in Afghanistan, where the president’s troop surge is now at full strength.
Senior US officials say that Mr Obama’s visit is designed to cement “increasingly broad and deep” ties between the world’s largest and wealthiest democracies. The trip marks the beginning of a four-nation tour of Asia that will include the G20 summit in South Korea.