U.S., India Discussing Military Sale
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NEW DELHI — The United States has removed some legal hurdles delaying military sales to India and now is discussing selling it electronic ground sensors for use along the Pakistani border, officials said Friday.
India has said it wants such sensors to monitor infiltration of Islamic militants from Pakistani territory.
“We are in discussion with the [Indian] Ministry of Defense right now,” a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
Two U.S. government teams and a group of American defense contractors visited India this week. American military manufacturers are seeking a place in the Indian market, where Russia is the No. 1 military supplier.
India’s border with Pakistan extends from Himalayan slopes in Kashmir to scorching deserts in Rajasthan. Many areas include thick forests and are prone to infiltration by militants, smugglers and illegal immigrants, military officials say.
Relations between New Delhi and Washington were strained during the Cold War, when India was a Soviet ally, and hampered by economic sanctions imposed on the New Delhi government after it conducted underground nuclear tests in 1998.
Most sanctions were lifted in 2001 after India supported the U.S.-led war on terror.
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