The Commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Robert Willard had stated at a Congressional hearing that American Special forces assist teams are stationed in India along with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Both the Ministry of External Affairs and the Defence Ministry have denied that any such force existed in India. This denial only raises further questions.
The statement made by the US Pacific Commander is categorical. He states: “We have currently special forces assist teams - Pacific assist teams is the term - laid down in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, as well as India". India falls within the purview of the Pacific Command within the US military command. The head of the Pacific Command has made an authoritative statement before a US Congressional committee.
There is no clarification from the US side that this statement is incorrect. The UPA government has not informed the country about the other arrangements which it has entered into with the US. For instance in the same testimony Admiral Willard has said: “We are working very closely with India with regard to their counter-terrorism capabilities and in particular on the maritime domain but also government to government, not necessarily DOD (department of defence) but other agencies assisting them in terms of their internal counter-terror and counterinsurgency challenges".
The government should come clean on the whole range of both the overt and covert military and security relations which exist with the United States.
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