Comment by alephnerd

It's easier for the US to manage the relationship with Marutius instead of with the UK [0] while buying favor from India and France [1].

It also aligns with Mastro, Doshi, and Colby's doctrine around the US retrenching in the Indo-Pac and the UK concentrating on the European continent [2] as the US increasingly cannot guarantee boots on the ground in Europe and Asia at the same time.

With the UK in the Indo-Pac, British supply chains would be stretched with marginal benefit for the US in an Asian theatre, but the same resources spent on BIOT could be better spent on British possessions in Cyprus, bases in the Middle East, and the North Atlantic.

[0] - https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/decolonise-die...

[1] - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/uk-mauritius-chagos-deal-r...

[2] - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2025/03/24/its-time-to-re...