"US is one of the 'central pillars' of Indian foreign policy," Bernard Gwertzman interviews Bruce O. Riedel, Council on Foreign Relations.

Formerly a leader of the non-aligned movement, India under the influence of its Congress Party and the main opposition BJP is now seeking closer relations with the US. Both Clinton and Bush administrations recognized India as an emerging regional power, possibly a global one.

"There is certainly a possibility that a new administration may try to strengthen the nonproliferation parts of it, and might, particularly if the Democrats are elected, try to revive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT]. But the first step there of course would be for the United States to ratify the CTBT. I don’t think we could go to the Indians and ask them to do something that we haven’t done so far....The Indian economy is now growing at about 9 percent ... India will soon have the world’s largest oil refinery in Jamnagar by Reliance Industries....It will be able to process virtually every kind of oil from around the world from heavy to light, making it really one of the most attractive refineries for oil in the world. It will not be dependent upon a certain kind of oil to come to it...."

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