I have chosen the heading of a report published on the front page of the daily Kaler Kantho on July 8 as my today's article title. A high-level delegation of the United States of America is arriving in Bangladesh on an important four-day visit today (July 11) with the objective of deepening the partnership. The team is led by US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya.  Another important representative is Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, who visited Bangladesh once last January.

A delegation from the European Union is visiting Bangladesh to discuss with all parties the issue of sending observers to the upcoming national elections in Bangladesh. Two or three days ago, the Secretary in charge of South and Southeast Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India visited Bangladesh for a day.

The country which was once called the next Afghanistan in the international arena has undergone incredible changes today. Bangladesh is now another name for a huge potential in the world. Famous columnist Nicholas Kristof mentioned in a New York Times article on March 10, 2021, if the new US President Biden wants to work on global poverty alleviation, he can adopt the model of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's basic policy in foreign relations is friendship to all, malice towards none. The new horizon of Bangladesh's relationship with the western world has started with the establishment of strategic relations with Japan recently.

In the ongoing global era, the classical definition of sovereignty in political science is no longer applicable. The interests of one country and another country are now united. The whole world is suffering today as a result of the war over whether or not Ukraine should join NATO. A Bangladesh with liberal values and free from terrorism and militancy is essential not only for its own development but for the security and stability of the entire region. India-US expressed strong commitment to work together to build a South Asia free from regional terrorism, cross-border terrorism, extremism, separatism, which was discussed very seriously during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US recently.

On June 20, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel gave some important information on the said matter. A reporter asked that as President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have announced a stance against cross-border terrorism, terrorism and militancy in South Asia and agreed to work together to counter it, whether there was any discussion or not between the two leaders about the return to power of that regime in Bangladesh which once cooperated and supported to armed separatist groups in the northeastern states of India. In response, Patel said that the two leaders have agreed to use all methods and strategies to prevent cross-border terrorism in South Asia, and India's approach in this regard will be the US approach. India's imperativeness as a partner in the implementation of US policies and strategies in the entire Asia Pacific region was once again understood by Narendra Modi's recent state visit to the United States.

On the other hand, due to its geographical location, a stable, terrorist-free and prosperous Bangladesh is essential for India to protect its territorial integrity including public security. All Indian political parties, think tanks and civil society agree on this. After the Awami League came to power in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's zero tolerance policy led to the ejection of all foreign terrorist groups from Bangladesh. Complete peace has returned to all the North-Eastern states of India. Assam's separatist group ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa said in an interview with newspaper in 2011 that although a shipment of arms was caught in Chittagong in April 2004, but ULFA had received several arms shipments earlier with the patronage of Pakistan and the help of the then Bangladesh government. This statement of Rajkhowa was published in a major daily of Bangladesh on August 8, 2011, mentioning the Hindustan Times source.

It is natural that everyone including India, China, and the United States will want to increase relations with Bangladesh by prioritizing their own interests. But no one has the right to say that you should not maintain or reduce relations with such and such a country. Or any conditions or demands that go against the interests of Bangladesh will not be acceptable to the people of Bangladesh, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly emphasized.

During the liberation war, the US administration was against it, but the people of that country largely supported Bangladesh. Since formal recognition on April 4, 1972, US-Bangladesh relations have expanded into many branches over the past 52 years. The United States is one of our development partners. In the last 50 years, the United States has directly invested eight billion dollars in Bangladesh. The country gave over 1.5 crore doges of corona vaccine for free. The US is the largest market for garment exports, the main foreign exchange earner for Bangladesh. Readymade garment exports from Bangladesh to the US is around $10 billion a year. In the academic year 2021-22, about 10,500 students from Bangladesh went to the United States. About 60 percent of our gas supply system is operated by US company Chevron. In the financial year 2021-22, the growth of the business of Bangladesh and the United States is about 32 percent. In 2018, Bangladesh's first satellite, Bangabandhu-1, was launched from the Kennedy Center in the United States. Apart from this, there are several security and military cooperation platforms between the two countries.

Members of the US Army are regularly participating in the Bangladesh International Peace Support Operations Center in Rajendrapur, near Dhaka, with training cooperation for the military members of the two countries. Bangladesh Navy's largest warship Samudra Vijay has been purchased from the United States. So, Bangladesh-United States relations have increased successively during the 14 years of the Awami League government. It is a matter of fact that when the national election come , some countries, which are development partners of Bangladesh, talk a lot considering their own views taking the advantage of the extreme division of Bangladesh's internal politics. But the people of Bangladesh do not like such interference of those countries. But if the two main political parties of Bangladesh were at least united in the basic foundation of the state's existence, then there would not have been such extreme divisive politics, and no foreign party would have had the opportunity to talk about our elections.

Liberation War is the main motivation of life and existence of Bangladesh. But a large political party does not respect the father of the nation, does not show formal respect, completely rejects the declaration of independence, the tradition of struggle against Pakistan and the main motivation and spirit of winning the war in 1971. No other country in the world has such strange politics. Therefore, there is no comparison between the politics of Bangladesh and other countries of the world. When a foreigner wants to take this opportunity, the blame lies more on our internal politics. So the reality is very difficult. Bangladesh has to take decision consideration this difficult reality. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made a firm announcement of fair elections. The US also wants fair and peaceful elections in Bangladesh.

A few days ago, US State Department spokesperson Patel said in a press briefing that the visa policy will be implemented for anyone who obstructs the path of fair elections. The US has no position on under which government the elections will be held, what the constitution of Bangladesh says or caretaker government etc. The United States has no say in who will participate in the election and who do not. So, it seems to me that the visit of the US delegation starting today from July 11 is to ensure the development and security of the countries of South Asia including Bangladesh. And at the same time there may be a detailed discussion on how the United States and Bangladesh can work together to prevent separatism, extremism and cross border terrorism. The Bangladesh election may also come up in the side talk. However, even though the discussions are bilateral, based on the reality and context, the issue of advancing this tripartite relationship between India, the United States and Bangladesh may also gain importance at the same time. Before leaving for Delhi-Dhaka, the US delegation held detailed discussions with the Ambassador of Bangladesh in Washington, also spoke to the Ambassador of India. After completing the tour of India, the team came to Bangladesh. Everything has a totality. The overall larger interest will take precedence over any single issue. Therefore, we hope that the visit of the US delegation will be fruitful for both countries.

@ The writer is a political and security analyst

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