It might seem natural to despair about the current state of US-India relations. Since President Barack Obama's state visit to India last November, New Delhi has eliminated two US suppliers from a landmark competition for 126 front-line fighter aircraft, a contract worth over $10 billion. India also abstained in a UN Security Council vote that sanctioned intervention in Libya, its first high-profile decision since rejoining that body with US support. In addition, the US government and corporate sector alike have been frustrated by the slow pace of Indian reforms that would enhance access to the lucrative Indian civilian nuclear, education, and retail markets.

Indians, meanwhile, have been unhappy with Washington's weak stance on Sino-Pakistani nuclear commerce, its ambiguity regarding a desired end-state in Afghanistan, a creeping sense of American protectionism and isolationism, continuing constraints on high technological access, and the seemingly lower political priority accorded India by the Obama administration. None of this is helped by the perception of relative American decline following the financial crisis and recession.

Amid this backdrop, Hillary Clinton's second visit as US Secretary of State in July, 2011 for the US-India Strategic Dialogue, was met with a disappointing level of apathy in India. Despite a sense of stagnation and domestic political preoccupation in both countries, her three-day visit did, in fact, manage to showcase a rich and diverse agenda indicative of a new normal in US-India relations. The bilateral agenda for the latest round of the strategic dialogue incorporated homeland and cyber security, defense cooperation and sales, trade and investment, civil nuclear and clean energy cooperation, and higher education, as well as programs to increase the number of young Americans traveling to India.

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