A desire to counter China’s influence has pushed the relationship between India and the U.S. to “new heights” in recent years, most visibly with Indian President Narendra Modi’s official state visit to Washington, D.C., in 2023, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace.
India’s “deepening relationship” with the U.S. adds it to “the bulwark of nations committed to countering Beijing’s malign influence,” according to a report by the institute.
This month, part of that relationship-building is taking place in Ada County. Since early November, nearly 100 American Green Berets and Indian Special Forces have been training together at the Orchard Combat Training Center , a combined arms training site about 20 miles south of Boise. The nearly 200,000-acre training site provides “some of the best training ranges in the world,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Borders, a public affairs officer for the Idaho National Guard.
The environment in Southern Idaho “resembles a lot of the areas where the U.S. military and our partners have operated over the last couple of decades,” he told the Idaho Statesman by email. Just this year, this training environment has drawn forces from Singapore, Canada, Poland and Germany to train with Idaho National Guardsmen at the Orchard Combat Training Center and the nearby Mountain Home Air Force Base , Borders said.