NEW DELHI- The India-US two-plus-two meeting has been postponed as of nowdue to uncertainty over confirmation of nomination of Mike Pompeo, as thenew Secretary of State, according to officials.

The first two-plus-two meeting between India and the US was tentativelyscheduled for April 18-19. The launch of two-plus-two dialogue wasannounced last summer when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successfulmeeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House. However, therewas no official announcement of the high-level dialogue involving theforeign and defence ministers from the two countries.

India’s foreign and defence secretaries were in Washington early this weekfor preparatory talks with their American counterparts. The Indiandelegation landed in Washington DC amidst the firing of Rex Tillerson asthe Secretary of State by Trump. The delegation continued with theirmeetings both at the State Department and the Pentagon as scheduled, duringwhich it was decided to hold the two-plus-two dialogue at a later date,which is unlikely to be held before the summer.

The two-plus-two dialogue was seen as a vehicle to elevate the strategicrelationship between the two countries. After June last year, the twocountries have tried at several other dates for this dialogue includingsometime in November and December.

Officials also checked for a time in January this year, but both sides werehaving a tough time in finding a day when all the four leaders -– ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fromIndia and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the fired Secretary of State RexTillerson, were available.

It was finally in February this year that two-days in mid-April was zeroedin for the talks. However, the plans had to be scuttled as on March 13,Trump announced that Tillerson has been fired and he nominated Pompeo, whois currently the CIA director, to replace him as the Secretary of State.