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The announcement on Friday that General James “Mad Dog” Mattis would soon step down as US defence secretary un-tethers the US-India relationship from its sturdiest peg, and exposes New Delhi, worryingly, to the unpredictable policymaking of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Since January 2017, Mattis has been the most steadfast votary in Trump’s cabinet of the US-India defence relationship. In September 2017, he became Trump’s first cabinet-level official to visit India. Since then, he has taken pro-India stands consistently on issues from Afghanistan to the Indo-Pacific.
In June, Mattis re-designated the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) —Pentagon’s largest geographical command with about 375,000 personnel
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