Though the US is 'disappointed' over India's decision not to send troops to Iraq, it will not affect Indo-US relations 'in the slightest' and there is 'no residual aftermath', outgoing American Ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill said in New Delhi on Thursday.

Blackwill's remarks came during the course of his speech on the 'Future of US-India relations' at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and later during a question-answer session.

He said the Indian government had also spoken about considering sending troops under different circumstances. So it depended on what happened in New York at the UN as also within the governmental democratic process in India.
 
The US envoy dismissed reports of US pressure on India to despatch troops. "We didn't pressure government of India. We had serious and sustained discussions on the basis of equality," he said.

"We have disagreed in our official exchanges concerning Iraq without vitriol, without accusation and without inflamed rhetoric," Blackwill said while observing that this was "another important example of the increasing maturity of the transformed US-India relationship."

Stressing that Indo-US relations were on the 'upward trajectory,' he said American President George W Bush had a 'global approach' to these ties consistent with the rise of India as a world power.

Referring to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's description of India and the US being 'natural allies,' he said, "No longer does Washington regard India as an acute and abiding international proliferation risk that must be carefully managed and constantly lectured.

"No longer does the US fixate on India's nuclear weapons and missile programmes. No more constant American nagging nanny on these subjects, and no longer does the US largely view its relationship with India through the prism
that must always include India's next-door neighbour."

Blackwill said the Bush administration perceived India as a strategic opportunity for the US and not as an irritating recalcitrant.

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