Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

An unexpected sight to behold: Ted Cruz working bipartisan deals

Narrative of Trump snoozing in court takes hold — much to his annoyance

Manafort will no longer take on Republican convention role

5 big travel lessons from an accomplished conservationist

Cruise ship drags dead whale into New York, prompting investigation

The case for eating at Italian gas stations

Courtroom photo ban adds to hurdles for Trump trial journalists

Israel’s shameful ban on Al Jazeera

Checks, not sex, and other takeaways from Trump’s New York hush money trial

Bishop vanished. His species can still be saved.

VCU grads walk out during Gov. Youngkin’s speech

Northern lights glow worldwide

Tens of thousands in Georgia protest Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ law

Israeli operations in north and south Gaza force displaced to flee again

‘Nothing left’: At least 300 dead as flash floods devastate Afghanistan

‘Bunker mentality’ at Columbia lit protest spark that spread nationwide

A mystery illness stole their kids’ personalities. These moms fought for answers.

The greatness — yes, greatness — of the Planet of the Apes

I used to dismiss my mom’s advice. Then I found a note she wrote before she died.  

Photos of his mom at lunch are a balm people didn’t know they needed

Dog hit by car loses leg, is adopted by firefighter who helped her

Carolyn Hax: Keep scrolling seven hours per day, or give therapy a try?

Ask Amy: Mother isn’t accepting of her gay son

Ask Amy: What do I say about my former walking buddy who yelled at me?

Kristi Noem’s dog killing is pure Southern gothic

Claire Messud turns her family’s history into a masterpiece

Joseph Epstein, conservative provocateur, tells his life story in full

The urgent air defense lessons of April 16 

Are smartphones destroying childhood? It’s complicated.

In the campaign against Donald Trump, do the ends justify the means?

Eighth-inning decision burns the Nats in a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox

Nats win opener at Fenway behind Patrick Corbin and a lockdown bullpen

Commanders rookie DT Johnny Newton needs a second foot surgery

Fooled by AI? These firms sell deepfake detection that’s ‘REAL 100%.’ 

Apple apologizes for iPad ad after blowback 

Google’s new ‘Find My’ device network is useful but a stalking risk

US-POLITICS-BIDEN

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Tom Brenner

During the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/08/biden-asia-trip-india/" target="_blank">Group of 20 summit in New Delhi</a> this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi draped a shawl over President Biden’s shoulders before the two strolled amicably side by side at a memorial site for Mohandas K. Gandhi. Biden appeared frequently with Modi during the summit, which was viewed as a sort of coming-out moment for India, and the two men often exchanged warm gestures.

Those moments of bonhomie, following a rare state dinner for Modi hosted by Biden in June, reflect the president’s long-running effort to court Modi, a strategic partner key to countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific. That effort is now complicated by Canada’s explosive allegation that Indian officials may have been behind the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia.

The White House’s approach since the allegations were made public Monday has been to walk a tightrope: Offering support for Canada’s investigation and urging India to cooperate, while avoiding any repudiation of India or Modi. Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement to the Canadian House of Commons on<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/18/hardeep-singh-nijjar-canada-india/" target=_blank> Monday that authorities are pursuing “credible allegations” of links connecting India</a> to the killing, the investigation is ongoing.

The White House has not issued a joint statement with Canada because it was a Canadian investigation, according to a senior administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. The official said it would be unusual for the United States to stand with another country when it is announcing the results of an internal law enforcement investigation, adding that the United States would not expect another country to do the same.

The White House does not have any concerns about Canada’s investigation and did not take issue with how Trudeau chose to announce the results, the official said.

The White House is waiting for the formal investigation to conclude before weighing in, but it pushed back on criticism that the United States is trying to avoid antagonizing India because of its important strategic role. The senior official noted that the White House has expressed “deep concern” about the allegations and called for those who are responsible to be held to account.

The move has led to a rapid deterioration in relations between Canada and India, including the expulsion of an Indian diplomat in Ottawa. New Delhi responded by kicking out a Canadian diplomat.

'Brand India'--and Modi--take center stage at G-20 summit

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had advocated for the creation of a separate Sikh state in the Punjab region of India, was fatally shot in his vehicle in June by two masked gunmen outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar,<b> </b>who was born in India but based in Canada, was president of the temple. Trudeau did not provide specifics in making the allegations.

That escalating spat puts Biden in a tricky position as he seeks to maintain strong relations with one of America’s closest allies, Canada, and a major strategic partner, India. Human rights activists have <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/usa-biden-and-modi-must-address-grave-human-rights-concerns-during-summit/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPrime%20Minister%20Modi%20has%20presided,and%20the%20criminalization%20of%20dissent" target="_blank">previously challenged</a> Washington’s growing closeness with India, citing Modi’s crackdown on dissent and his persecution of religious minorities.

More broadly, Biden’s embrace of India highlights wider tension in Biden’s foreign policy, as he talks of bolstering the world’s democracies and confronting its autocracies but also has allied with undemocratic regimes in hopes of building a global coalition to push back against China’s influence.

Against that backdrop, Trudeau’s allegations have put the White House in an especially tight spot. “The Biden administration has made extraordinary efforts to double down on the emerging strategic convergence between the United States and India, while downplaying any possible divergence on shared values,” said Milan Vaishnav, senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Now, Washington will need to walk a fine line between ostracizing a valued bulwark against Chinese expansionism and embracing the concerns of a major NATO ally,” Vaishnav added.

A White House statement Tuesday reflected that balancing act.

“We are deeply concerned about the allegations referenced by Prime Minister Trudeau. We remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners. It is critical that Canada’s investigation proceed and the perpetrators be brought to justice,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “We urge the Indian government to cooperate in the Canadian investigation and ensure that those responsible are held to account.”

In the weeks before the G-20 summit, senior officials from the United States and other countries privately raised the issue of Nijjar’s killing with Indian officials, according to a Western official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Other attacks on allied soil in recent years have been followed by coordinated efforts to respond, sometimes through the expulsion of diplomats and intelligence agents. After the British government <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britain-charges-two-russians-with-attempted-murder-of-ex-spy-with-nerve-agent/2018/09/05/db99c5c8-b0f7-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html" target=_blank>charged the Kremlin</a> with a 2018 nerve agent attack on British soil, the United States, Canada and many European countries expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity.

Any Canadian push to mount a similar effort would be complicated by the fact that, unlike Russia, India does not have adversarial relations with Canada’s allies, many of whom have reason to build favor with Modi’s government. India is among the world’s most populous countries, occupies a strategic location in the Asian subcontinent and is home to a growing technology sector.

The United States and India recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/31/india-us-tech-defense/" target="_blank">established a high-level initiative</a> on defense and emerging technologies that will, among other things, promote joint production of defense equipment, including military jet engines, long-range artillery and armored infantry vehicles.

Biden has made grand overtures to court India in recent months. He invited Modi for a state dinner — only the third of his presidency — and has avoided publicly criticizing India’s slide into illiberalism and Modi’s persecution of religious minorities.

“The Biden administration is likely to downplay or perhaps ignore the issue, to avoid having to choose between NATO ally Canada and emerging security partner India, to ensure the latter’s continued assistance in countering China,” said Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp. and former U.S. intelligence officer.

“Much will depend on how the publicly revealed facts of Canada’s investigation shake out, but if true, these allegations pose the most serious threat to India’s international reputation perhaps in its history,” Grossman said.

With Washington and Delhi strengthening their security cooperation to counter China, the Biden administration has been willing to overlook its differences with India over Russia’s war in Ukraine, another top priority for the White House. “They’ve given up on trying to change India’s position on Russia to sustain cooperation on China,” said Lisa Curtis, director of Indo-Pacific Security at the Center for a New American Security.

U.S. diplomats said that Canadian counterparts briefed them about the allegations before Trudeau went public with them, and that they hoped for more clarity soon.

“We have been in close contact with our Canadian colleagues about this,” a senior State Department official said Tuesday, briefing reporters under ground rules of anonymity. “We’re quite concerned about the allegations. We think it’s important there is a full and open investigation, and we would urge the Indian government to cooperate with that investigation.”

Biden has often vowed to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy, and he has spoken in soaring terms about the existential challenge between democracy and autocracy worldwide. He has in some ways framed this approach as a contrast with his predecessor, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a>, who appeared willing to forge links with autocrats while disrupting longtime U.S. alliances with European democracies.

White House officials say Biden prefers to raise his concerns about human rights with other leaders privately, which they say he did when Modi was in Washington for the state visit in June.

At the same time, the Biden administration has prioritized building relationships to push back against China and has said, despite Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, that China remains the most serious long-term challenge to the world order.

Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/10/biden-g20-summit-india-vietnam/" target=_blank>recently visited Vietnam</a>, for example, to strengthen relations with Hanoi despite the Communist Party of Vietnam’s treatment of its citizens. Human rights groups estimate the Vietnamese government is holding about 200 political prisoners.

Biden has faced similar challenges before. On the campaign trail, Biden vowed to make Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman a “pariah” after the CIA concluded he ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Shortly after taking office, Biden declassified a U.S. intelligence report that found bin Salman responsible, but he stopped short of directly penalizing the Saudi royal.

Since then, Biden has worked to reestablish a relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is crucial to U.S. interests. Biden visited bin Salman in Jeddah and greeted him with a fist bump.

And at one point during the G-20, Modi came over as Biden shook hands with bin Salman, and put his hands over theirs as the trio smiled.

The Biden administration will impose no direct punishment on bin Salman for the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, despite the conclusion of a long-awaited intelligence report released Friday that he “approved” the operation, officials said.

<i>Matt Viser and Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.</i>

University of Maryland, College Park

BS in microbiology

BA in journalism

Yasmeen Abutaleb is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2019 as a national health policy reporter. Yasmeen co-authored the New York Times No. 1 best seller, "Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration Response to the Pandemic that Changed History."

Yasmeen Abutaleb

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, 2014

Gerald Loeb Award 2014, NSA stories

Society of American Business Editors and Writers enterprise award 2009, for the story "Banking Regulator Played Advocate over Enforcer"

Daily Californian Alumni Association Alumna of the Year, 2017

Pulitzer Prize for reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, 2018

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2022 for an investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol

The Prince of Tennessee

City University, London, MA in international journalism

University of California at Berkeley, BA in humanities

Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter with The Washington Post. She was a member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams, in 2022 for an investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, in 2018 for coverage of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and in 2014 and for reporting on the hidden scope of government surveillance. 



Ellen Nakashima

Asia Society Osborn Elliot Prize, 2020

Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Citation, 2020

Society of Publishers in Asia Award for Excellence in Enviromental Reporting, 2023

South Asian Journalists Association Daniel Pearl Award, 2023

Stanford University, BA

Gerry Shih is the India Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, covering India and neighboring countries. 

Gerry Shih

Biden’s efforts to court India challenged by assassination claim

the-washington-post

For the Washington Post 

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Politics

washpost

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/white-house&limit=20

White House

Latest news and coverage of the White House.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.