The United States views India as a 'critical power' and is seeking a deeper strategic partnership with New Delhi, a senior Pentagon official said on 14 August, pushing back firmly against suggestions that renaming Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) back to Pacific Command (PACOM) signals a reduced US commitment to India or the Indian Ocean region.

What Colby Said

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge A. Colby addressed the name change during an on-the-record virtual briefing organised by the State Department's Asia Pacific Media Hub, speaking from a visit that included stops in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. He was unequivocal: 'This is not in any way a sort of denigration of the importance of the Indian Ocean area or of India itself,' Colby said.

He described India as central to US strategic thinking. 'We really see India as a critical power, and the Indian Ocean, of course, is very important,' he said. 'If anything, we really see India as a vital relationship where there's a natural partnership.'

Why PACOM, Not INDOPACOM

Colby explained that the command rename reflects a military prioritisation consistent with the US National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, both of which concentrate resources on the first island chain — the arc stretching from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines toward parts of Southeast Asia. 'The strategic focus of the United States military is really on the first island chain... the Western Pacific area, obviously stretching into Southeast Asia,' he said.

Colby also noted that regional geographic terminology carries different meanings in different contexts. 'Indo-Pacific has one meaning, the Pacific has another, the Asia Pacific has a third,' he said, suggesting the label shift is partly a matter of lexicon rather than a recalibration of relationships.

India-US Ties: Areas of Alignment and Divergence

Colby acknowledged that the two countries would not always see eye to eye, but framed disagreement as compatible with a strong bilateral relationship. 'Let's look where our interests align. We're going to have areas where we don't always agree. But we're looking for a stronger India,' he said.

He cited his own visit to India in March and subsequent visits by other senior Trump administration officials as evidence of sustained high-level engagement. This comes amid broader US-India defence deepening under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) and expanding Quad cooperation.

Washington's Broader Regional Approach

Colby characterised the Trump administration's Indo-Pacific posture as one grounded in military strength, practical cooperation, and respect for national sovereignty — and explicitly rejected any binary framing. 'We're not asking for fealty; we're asking for practical things: access, collaboration, these kinds of things,' he said.

He said the US wants regional partners to build up their own defence industries and military capabilities, with the benchmark being their contribution to deterrence — not domestic political or industrial objectives. Notably, this framing aligns with Washington's push for allies to take on greater burden-sharing as US strategic attention concentrates on the Western Pacific.