'Wrecking ball diplomacy': Kanwal Sibal as US withdraws from India-led ISA, 65 other int'l organisations

Kanwal Sibal, the former Foreign Secretary of India, on Thursday slammed the Trump administration after the US left 66 international organisations, including the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA). He labelled the move a part of the US' "wrecking ball diplomacy." 

On Thursday morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration is leaving 66 "anti-American, useless, or wasteful international organizations". The list included 35 non-UN organisations and 31 UN bodies. 

"The US is continuing with its wrecking ball diplomacy. Some organisations may not be important, but it is withdrawing from trade, energy and climate change organisations. Including the International Solar Alliance, created by India and France. It is withdrawing from ECOSOC, UNFCCC, IPCC, ISA, UNCTAD, IEA," Sibal wrote in a post on X. 

Notably, Trump has said previously that the UN was "not even coming close to living up" to its potential. 

So, what should India do in such a situation? As per author and commentator Navroop Singh, India should quit the QUAD alliance formed by the US to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region in a tit-for-tat move. 

Singh wrote: "I think its time India should quit QUAD, there has to be some sort of reaction even though symbolic. After America has quit India lead International Solar Alliance, the least we should do is Quit QUAD! Our foreign policy establishment needs to wake up from the inertia it has fallen into and understand this is a structural breakdown in Indo-US Strategic Partnership!"

Other organisations listed for withdrawal include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans, UN Water, and various UN population and trade bodies -- The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) — Economic Commission for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific and Western Asia Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict.

While announcing the decision, Rubio said, "These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans - we will stop subsidising globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests. The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first."