WASHINGTON, Feb 2: Veteran Senator John Kerry, who favours strong ties with India, was today sworn in as the US Secretary of State, replacing Hillary Clinton as America’s top diplomat.
Kerry, 69, was sworn in at a private ceremony, taking an oath administered by US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.
“I was very honoured to be sworn in and very anxious to get to work,” Kerry told media, with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry by his side.
Besides his wife, he was joined by daughter Vanessa, brother Cameron, and his Senate staff.
Kerry is a strong advocate of peace talks between India and Pakistan as he firmly believes that there are few relationships that will be vital in the 21st century for Washington’s ties with New Delhi.
Kerry has an illustrious career spanning over three decades of public life. For the last four years he was Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A close confidant of Obama, Kerry in the last four years several times came to the rescue of Obama Administration whenever US relationship with Pakistan reached low ebb.
He has a personal relationship with top Pakistani leadership.
Kerry’s top priority during his tenure is going to be the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan — in which Pakistan has a crucial role to play. He is also expected to make his first trip to India in the first six months of him occupying the post of top American diplomat.
While it is too early to zero in on the precise dates, Kerry would be leading a high-powered US delegation to India sometime in the middle of this year for next round of India-US Strategic Dialogue; which was started by his predecessor Clinton and former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in 2010 in Washington.
A Vietnam war veteran, Kerry played a key role in shaping the country’s foreign policy and national security and on a range of issues including Afghanistan and Pakistan, nuclear nonproliferation, and global climate change.
As Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, in 2010, Kerry was instrumental in renewing the New START Treaty, a vital nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.
During Kerry’s tenure, the State Department is unlikely to see any major change in the US policy towards India, in fact there would be efforts to take it to the next level, officials said, adding that the India-US ties have now reached an auto mode wherein change in personalities is unlikely to derail the relationship.
During the confirmation hearing of US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell in February last year, Kerry had said, “There are few relationships that will be as vital in the 21st century as our growing ties with India and its people. On all of the most critical global challenges that we face, India has a central role to play.”
“And that means that Washington is going to be looking to New Delhi not only for cooperation, but increasingly for innovation and regional leadership as well,” Kerry had said.
“India’s growing significance has been clear to many of us for quite some time now. That’s why President Obama invited Prime Minister Singh to be his guest at the first state dinner, Secretary Clinton has visited India twice, and both countries inaugurated the US-India Strategic Dialogue two years ago.
“Both Republicans and Democrats understand the need to capitalise on the democratic values and strategic interests that our two countries share. And that’s why it is important that we work together every day—as I think we are—to further cultivate our relationship,” Kerry said on February 7, 2012.
During Powell’s confirmation hearing, Kerry said that US and Indian interests and values are converging today as never before, and, consequently, America is an interested stakeholder in India’s rise.
Those familiar with his foreign policy views on South Asia argue that Kerry is an ardent advocate of Indo-Pak peace process.
Even if there are terrorist strikes in India, the new Secretary of State would like the two countries to talk, as he firmly believes that dialogue can calm down the situation and bring in peaceful solutions to any tensed atmosphere.
And this is what Kerry, as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had conveyed to India when he met Prime Minister Singh and other top Indian officials in February 2010, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on German bakery in the western Indian city of Pune, which killed nine and injured 38. (AGENCIES)
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