Washington, April 07: New Delhi’s desire to maintain its strategic autonomy is a constrain in the defence ties with the United States, a top Pentagon official has said, even as he noted the significant advancement in Indo-US military relationship in recent years.
“India’s historic leadership of the non-alignment movement and desire to maintain strategic autonomy somewhat constrain cooperation at a level USPACOM (US Pacific Command) desires,” the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Robert Willard said in his testimony before House Armed Services Committee.
“The US-India relationship remains challenged by a degree of suspicion fuelled by Cold War-influenced perceptions, complicated Indian political and bureaucratic processes, and the US-Pakistan relationship,” Willard said.
But, he said there was noteworthy advancement in others areas like counter-terrorism and disaster management.
“Cooperation is especially noteworthy in the areas of counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and maritime security,” Willard said.
He has said the recent removal of Indian defence-and space-related industries from the US Entity List not only recognises India’s record of responsible stewardship of sensitive technologies but further enables bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interests.
–Agencies