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US Defence Secretary
The Pentagon formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated. Austin's memo has been widely anticipated ever since legislation signed into law on December 23 gave him 30 days to rescind the mandate. The Defence Department had already stopped all related personnel actions, such as discharging troops who refused the shot. "The Department will continue to promote and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all service members," Austin said in the memo. "Vaccination enhances operational readiness and protects the force." Austin said that commanders have the authority to maintain unit readiness and a healthy force. He added, however, that other department policies including mandates for other vaccines remain in place. That includes, he said, the ability of commanders to consider, as appropriate, the individual immunization status
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday agreed that the global situation this year has become more challenging, especially due to the challenges in the Indo-Pacific, and underscored the need to further strengthen the bilateral relationship, in particular the defence ties. The remarks came amidst China's increasingly intimidatory behaviour in the region. Jaishankar is here in the American Capital for bilateral consultations with several US Cabinet ministers, including his counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken. I do share with you that the global situation has become far more challenging this year (due to) a variety of reasons, the Indo-Pacific in particular," Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the top of his meeting with Austin at the Pentagon here. "It's important that the stability, security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific should be secured. That is best done amongst others by cooperation between two countries," he .
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to his American counterpart Lloyd Austin during which they discussed bilateral defence cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan. Describing the conversation as "warm", Singh said it was agreed to continue with the "useful dialogue" and to strengthening the India-US partnership further. "Had a warm telephone conversation with @SecDef Mr Lloyd Austin. We discussed issues pertaining to bilateral defence cooperation & regional matters including situation in Afghanistan," the defence minister said. "We agreed to continue the useful dialogue & look forward to strengthening the partnership further," he said. The conversation came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US this week.