U.S. Defence Secretary will stop over in Kabul before arriving in India on September 26, 2017.

In the first-ever Cabinet level visit from the Trump administration, U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis will be in New Delhi on Tuesday for a series of meetings.

The U.S. Department of Defence said Mr. Mattis would leave on Sunday for his India trip. Indications are that he could stop over in Kabul before reaching New Delhi on Monday evening.

“From Tuesday, September 26. to September 28, Secretary Mattis visits India, where he will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the India Gate and will meet with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi,” the Defence Department said.

It said the Secretary would emphasise that the United States viewed India as a “valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia”.

Mr. Mattis will also express American appreciation for India’s important contributions toward Afghanistan’s democracy, stability, prosperity and security, it said.

Joint Exercise under way

Meanwhile, the two sides are holding a joint training exercise, Yudh Abhyas 2017, which began on September 14 in Washington State, U.S. The exercise is an “ideal platform for the two countries to share their expertise on military operations,” the Army said in a statement.

The theme of the exercise is to build and develop positive military relations and inter-operability to conduct counter terrorism, counter insurgency, regional security operations and peace keeping operations under the UN Charter.

The exercise includes a brigade headquarter based command post exercise, expert academic discussions on strategic issues of mutual concern and combined training between the army units.

The Army said during the first week, participants familiarised with each other’s organisational structure, weapons, equipment and tactical drills while Commander and Staff Officers worked in close coordination to collate intelligence to issue suitable operational orders to the combined field training components.