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US says ties won`t be hit: The Asian Age
New Delhi, July 15: The United States on Monday said that India`s decision not to send troops to Iraq will not hamper the relations between the two countries.
New Delhi, July 15: The United States on Monday said that India’s decision not to send troops to Iraq will not hamper the relations between the two countries.
Washington, however, said it had hoped that New Delhi had taken a different step. "As we have said before, this was a decision for the government of India to take. Opposition has been clear on this while we had hoped India would take a different decision," an US embassy spokesperson said while reacting to New Delhi’s decision.
The US official said that Washington’s bilateral relations with New Delhi will not be affected and India remained a strategic partner of the United States. "The transformation of US-India relations remain as before and India remains an important strategic partner for the US," the spokesperson said. The US ambassador, Mr Robert D. Blackwill, had said recently that India would miss out an opportunity if it does not send troops to Iraq. He had tried hard to convince the Indian leaders to accept the US request for troops. The outgoing ambassador had made it clear that the Indian government’s decision one way or the other would not hamper bilateral ties.
New Delhi had held series of consultation with the US leaders over the issue of sending troops to Iraq which came up during discussions during deputy prime minister, L.K. Advani’s recent visit to the US.
US President George W. Bush had even sent a team of Pentagon officials to India to address New Delhi’s concern about the move and foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal had also visited the US recently. Mr Sibal had hinted that India was not particularly convinced about the proposal. He had said that there were some grey areas in the UN Security Council resolution 1483 seeking assistance for re-building Iraq.
India also had consultation with several countries in the Gulf to assess their viewpoint and the situation on the ground. Mr Blackwill had met Mr Advani last week where he was informed about the Indian position that it would rather prefer an United Nations’ role.
The US official said that Washington’s bilateral relations with New Delhi will not be affected and India remained a strategic partner of the United States. "The transformation of US-India relations remain as before and India remains an important strategic partner for the US," the spokesperson said. The US ambassador, Mr Robert D. Blackwill, had said recently that India would miss out an opportunity if it does not send troops to Iraq. He had tried hard to convince the Indian leaders to accept the US request for troops. The outgoing ambassador had made it clear that the Indian government’s decision one way or the other would not hamper bilateral ties.
New Delhi had held series of consultation with the US leaders over the issue of sending troops to Iraq which came up during discussions during deputy prime minister, L.K. Advani’s recent visit to the US.
US President George W. Bush had even sent a team of Pentagon officials to India to address New Delhi’s concern about the move and foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal had also visited the US recently. Mr Sibal had hinted that India was not particularly convinced about the proposal. He had said that there were some grey areas in the UN Security Council resolution 1483 seeking assistance for re-building Iraq.
India also had consultation with several countries in the Gulf to assess their viewpoint and the situation on the ground. Mr Blackwill had met Mr Advani last week where he was informed about the Indian position that it would rather prefer an United Nations’ role.