Gen Shelton comes calling

washington: the highest-ranking american general ever to visit india stands appropriately enough at a towering six feet five and is a famed paratrooper who loves to jump from great heights. but whether joint chief of staff gen henry hugh shelton's landmark trip to new delhi this week will result in taking the down-to-earth indo-us military relations to any stratospheric heights -- without collaboration on missile defense -- is a matter that may well be up to new delhi.for its part, the bush administration appears to have made it amply clear that it seeks a higher level of military engagement with india. shelton's visit was scheduled within a day after india's foreign and defence minister jaswant singh met the american defense secretary donald rumsfeld last month. it was put off due to scheduling problems. but more importantly, shortly before shelton's original departure date, a dod official, in what seemed to be a deliberate message ahead of the visit, spoke to a western wire service agency about the possibility of enhanced indo-us ties in the context of washington's tensions with china. new delhi had been particularly leery of this line of thinking with a large section of the indian establishment against becoming the us cats paw in the region, but are there a number of such trial balloons floating around in washington. more recently, the bush administration's blunt-talking deputy secretary richard armitage has characterised the premise of us-pakistan relations as "false" and suggested india is a more natural ally. shelton would seem the unlikely interlocutor for a tectonic shift in policy, but his visit is emblematic of a dramatic change in the tone and tenor of indo-us ties that included two visits to new delhi last year of the chief of the us pacific command, admiral dennis blair. unlike in the case of pakistan, us generals don't come to india on finger-wagging missions. ``we are looping india into our asia policy and so it should be. it's important for washington to hear the indian perspective on central asia, russia, and china,'' says james clad, a professor of south asia studies at georgetown university and a former correspondent of the far eastern economic review in new delhi. according to clad, indo-us ties have been ``hostage to the mea and state department for too long'' and shelton's visit is part of arriving at a more robust defense relationship. the two militaries have not had much interaction after a brief affair in the early 1990s when india secretly helped us planes refuel in bombay during the gulf war. the military ties froze completely in the aftermath of india's nuclear tests in 1998, but in 1999, india's army chief gen v p malik visited the us. it's likely that current indian service chiefs - and the cds, if the issue is resolved by then - will follow up gen shelton's visit with trips here. ''the pentagon, at least, is trying to resume its relationship with india where it was cut off in the 1990s, only this time the department of state will not hold improved relations to ransom because of the ctbt or proliferation concerns,''observed south asia scholar prof stephen cohen. ''the indians have gotten over their suspicion that the us was somehow trying to undercut india in asia, and had sided with china,'' he added. shelton is widely seen to be more of a soldier and less of washington insider -- unlike his predecessor colin powell. when he took over the joint chief of staff's office in 1998 the general feeling was that he lacked political savvy and would trod on by the formidable washington officialdom. however, the strong and largely silent man has held his own and was recently described by one military commentator as ''the most politically astute foxhole veterans i've ever seen.''