India won’t be US Ally But A Separate Great Power Soon: US Official

Washington | White House Asia coordinator Kurt Campbell said India won’t be an ally to the US but a separate great power soon. He added that the US and India ties have deepened and strengthened over the last 20 years.
While replying to a question at the Aspen Security Forum meeting in Washington, Campbell said India is the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in 21 century.
“The fact is, I don’t know about any other bilateral relationship that deepened and strengthened so rapidly other than India and the US in the last 20 years,” the top White House official said to the audience. He suggested that the US government is required to invest more in people-to-people ties, working together on technology and other issues.

“India has a unique strategic character. It will not be an ally to the United States. It has the desire of becoming an independent and powerful state and it will be a great power. But I have reason to believe that our bilateral ties are growing across the board in almost every arena,” Campbell said.
However, he noted that there are inhibitions in both of the bureaucracies and there are many challenges. “I believe that this is the relationship which should have some ambition. We should look at the things we can do together, whether it’s in space, education, climate and we should really move in that direction,” he said.
Campbell said, “Look at the hurdles we have surmounted in the last 20 years and the depth of the ties between two countries are remarkable.”
India-US ties are not built on anxiety around China but have a deeper understanding of the importance of synergies between the two societies, he asserted.