The current choice by President Biden’s administration to renominate former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti to be U.S. ambassador to India has highlighted the peculiar state of the bilateral relationship.

Since Biden took workplace two years in the past, the United States has not had an envoy in New Delhi – and this at a time when the U.S. is assiduously courting India as a possible counterweight to China within the Indo-Pacific. Together with Australia, Japan and the U.S., India is important to sustaining the steadiness of energy within the area. And as a member of the fledgling I2U2 partnership, which additionally consists of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the US, India has an important function to play in containing Chinese affect within the Middle East.

Given India’s strategic significance, why has the White House left the ambassador place vacant for 2 years? The reply has nothing to do with India. Garcetti was nominated in July 2021, a number of months into the brand new administration. But his Senate affirmation ran into trouble over allegations that as mayor he ignored sexual harassment complaints towards one in all his aides.

Indian officers, initially nonplussed, turned irritated. Over the previous 20 months, a number of American envoys served as chargé d’affaires on the New Delhi embassy, however they have been all transferred and changed earlier than they might set up the native relationships important to their success. Recently, profession diplomat Elizabeth Jones was named to the post. But her appointment is momentary, too, and she or he is anticipated to step down as soon as a full-time ambassador is confirmed.

Biden has called the U.S.-India partnership “one of the most important relationships we have” and hailed the nation as an “indispensable” companion. But the administration’s incapability to call an envoy has led some Indians to wonder if the administration would have left the identical put up in London or Paris vacant for thus lengthy.

Meanwhile, the strategic relationship between the U.S. and India has by no means been extra essential. For years, India resisted pressures to take sides in America’s escalating rivalry with China. But China’s current encroachments on Indian territory within the Himalayas have brought about India to problem Chinese expansionism. In addition to this shared concern, India seeks US cooperation on safety, know-how, and local weather change.

India can also be an vital financial companion. The US is without doubt one of the subcontinent’s largest sources of international direct funding, with annual FDI standing at $45 billion in 2021. Unnerved by China’s dominance over international provide chains, American officers have been encouraging US firms to ascertain manufacturing bases elsewhere, putting India on the middle of the administration’s “friend-shoring” agenda. Apple, for instance, is anticipated to produce roughly 25% of its iPhones in India by 2025. Similarly, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is capable of replacing China as America’s main supplier of common generic medications.

But the failure to confirm Garcetti has undermined this mutually beneficial relationship. His confirmation struggles aside, Garcetti is a good choice for the post. He is young and energetic, and his close relationship with Biden suggests that he would enjoy direct access to the president.

Having a U.S. ambassador who has the president’s ear is advantageous for the host country. Roosevelt House, as the ambassador’s residence in New Delhi is called, has been occupied by colorful figures like the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who famously went straight to his close friend President Kennedy whenever he wanted to bypass State Department bureaucracy, including during the Sino-Indian War. Daniel Patrick Moynihan also occupied the post, before becoming a U.S. senator.

While White House officials privately blame the Senate confirmation process for the absence of a permanent ambassador, the question remains: If India matters as much as the U.S. says it does, why has the administration not acted more forcefully to get its nominee confirmed?

The irony is that strengthening U.S.-India relations is one of the rare foreign policies with bipartisan support in Washington. Since President Clinton’s historic visit in 2000, both Republican and Democratic administrations have treated India as an essential partner in America’s geopolitical strategy.

India, which assumed the presidency of the G20 in December, fits well into America’s global vision, and the two countries have much to gain from cooperating on common concerns such as climate change and Islamic terrorism. While they seem to disagree on how to contain China’s rise, that is all the more reason to ensure that the mechanisms of diplomacy are functioning properly.

It is time for the Biden administration to get its act together and put Garcetti on a plane to New Delhi without further delay.

Shashi Tharoor, a former United Nations undersecretary-general and former Indian minister of state for external affairs and minister of state for human resource development, is a member of parliament for the Indian National Congress.