THE United States has unveiled its 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS), a quadrennial report last published in 2022, which diverges significantly from Biden-era strategies, focusing more inwardly on border security and countering narcotics.

While the 2022 strategy identified China as the US’s primary strategic competitor, the 2026 NDS shifts the burden to allies, adopts a softer tone toward China and Russia and calls for “respectful relations” with Beijing, omitting any mention of Taiwan. Russia is described as a “persistent but manageable” threat affecting NATO’s eastern members.

Notably, India, long courted as a key strategic partner against China, is absent. In November 2025, the US and India renewed their defense cooperation agreement for another........

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