I just read a great article by Duncan Currie of National Review magazine, I thought I'd pass along some of the highlights.....I wont get into details about U.S.-India relations in 2000-2008 but you can do the research yourself if you are interested.
"Shortly before George W. Bush left office, Harvard historian Sugata Bose told me that strengthening U.S. relations with India 'may turn out to be the most significant foreign policy achievement of the Bush administration.' It is an achievement that Indians greatly appreciate: in mid February [2009], a spokesman for the ruling Congress party said that Bush deserves India's top civilian award, the Bharat Ratna ("Jewel of India"), an honor rarely conferred on non-indians."
"The most historic element of Bush's India policy was a bilateral civilian nuclear agreement, which received final approval from U.S. lawmakers in the fall of 2008."
"The U.S. and India share a host of values and interests. Both are wary of [communist] China, and both are fighting Islamist terrorism that emanates from Pakistan. The Indian diaspora has bolstered cultural linkages, and in recent years bilateral economic cooperation has flourished. Stephen Cohen, a South Asia specialist at the Brookings Institute, reckons that U.S.-India economic connections are 'so strong that they stabilize the overall relationship.'
"In June 2005 [under the Bush administration] U.S. and Indian officials signed a joint defense framework that stated 'as the world's two largest democracies, the U.S. and India agree on the vital importance of political and economic freedom, democracy, the rule of law, security, and opportunity around the world."
"Bush's India outreach was part of a broader Asia strategy that involved engaging China while boosting relations with democracy powers such as India, Japan, and Australia. These countries conducted a joint relief mission with the U.S. following the 2004 Asian tsunami. In 2007 these 4 democracies along with Singapore held [joint] naval excercises."
"In his 2008 book Rivals, former Economist editor [...] Bill Emmott writes that Bush's 'bold initiative' to enhance U.S.-India relations 'may eventually be judged by historians as a move of great strategic importance and imagination.'
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