The Abraham Accords As India’s West Asia Bridge

Context: The signing of the Accords has helped remove strategic obstacles for India and aided defence cooperation.

About Abraham Accords

• It is a deal signed between Israel and a consortium of Arab States led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2020.
• The statement marked the first public normalization of relations between an Arab country and Israel since 1979.

Impact of Abraham Accords on India’s strategic interests in West Asia

• Welcomed by India: Highlighting its support for mechanisms that offer peace and stability in the region.
• It aids India’s strategic balancing and deepening ties: It cleared strategic obstacles for deepening military relations with otherwise opposing stakeholders like UAE (India conducted the ‘Zayed Talwar’ naval exercises), Israel (High level visits) etc.
• The accord paves the way for harmony in West Asia. Thus India’s strategic footprint in West Asia is bound to rise.
• Energy security perspective: As India imports more than 80% of its annual oil requirements, much of which still comes from suppliers from West Asia.

Challenges

• Not all Arab States are on board with the geopolitical shifts: Saudi Arabia has maintained a distance from this arrangement.
• Evolving geopolitical challenges in Iran and Afghanistan: 
  • Continuing USU.S. sanctions against Iran and the general tensions between Israel, the Gulf and Iran via proxy battles in theatres such as Yemen, Syria and beyond. 
    • Recently, as tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States flared up in the Persian Gulf, the Indian Navy orchestrated Operation Sankalp to escort Indian­flagged vessels.
  • USU.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has potential to further complicate the balance.
  • India’s closeness with Iran:  The close ties exhibited by India and Iran in engagements in Afghanistan and shows a level of strategic commonality, interest and play on certain issues in the region.
    • Criticality of connectivity projects remains - such as Chabahar Port and Chabahar-Zahedan rail project (project discussions are still on).

Conclusion: India’s strategic play in West Asia will be reflective of its economic growth, and by association, an increasingly important place in the global order. From UN Security Council to the Indo-Pacific, India will be expected to be more assertive, diplomatically and militarily.