India no longer non-aligned country: US

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jul 8 (PTI) Ahead of a crucial Indo-US
strategic dialogue, the US on Friday said it no longer
considers India a non-aligned country, but New Delhi is not an
American ally in traditional sense.
"I do not consider India a non-aligned country any
more. I think that really changed after 9/11 where India
really realized that it has a wide range of common interest
with the United States," said Robert Blake, the Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
"I do not think that India and the United States would
be allies in the traditional sense, but I do think, that we
have an expanding convergence of our national interest," he
underlined, as the two nations prepares for the third round of
Strategic Dialogue later this month.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be leading a
high-powered US delegation to New Delhi for strategic talks,
the dates of which are yet to be announced.
Blake said the two leading democracies of the world
"have common vales like support for free market economies,
support for peace and stability around the world".
He underlined that India and the US are increasingly
working together to help promote peace and security "so that
is why our President has said that this is going to be one of
the defining partnerships of the 21st century".
Blake told journalists in response to a question
during a web chat, organized by the State Department, that the
dialogue would review the relationship between the two
countries and focus on the way forward.
"All her focus would be to review wide range of
cooperation she already had with counterparts External Affairs
Minister, S M Krishna. But it is just important is to look
ahead as to how we take this relationship forward," the top
diplomat said.