Media reports quoted top Pentagon commander Admiral Robert Willard as telling a Congressional hearing on Thursday that US special forces teams were stationed in five South Asian countries, including India and Sri Lanka.
"The report is factually incorrect in so far as the reference to India is concerned," Indian defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said in a statement late on Friday.
"US special forces teams have never been stationed in India in the past, nor are such teams stationed in the country presently," Kar added.
The two democracies, however, have a regular military exchange programme with cross visits for training and joint drills by soldiers of one country to another.
In Colombo, the US embassy on Saturday denied stationing special forces in Sri Lanka.
"References in the press to US special forces being stationed in Sri Lanka are misleading," the embassy said in a statement.
However, it said members of the US military were assigned to work in the embassy in Colombo "as part of the bilateral engagement between the United States and Sri Lanka."
The US admiral had been quoted as saying that the move to station US forces in the South Asian countries was part of the counter-terrorism cooperation with these nations.
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The media reports were factually incorrect. Transcript of Admiral Willard's statement is available on the web: http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=e61db037-2149-4d23-b23e-2d206bd4ad60. Nowhere does he say that special forces troops were stationed in India or other South Asian countries.
For the first time , I see a desperate USA....USA is surely going to slip behind China and India .
@Satish Chandra: Establishment’s “denial writers”. Good try.
@American Desi: "That means some one is being dishonest here. I don’t think Pentagon commander Admiral Robert Willard will lie to the Congressional hearing as he could lose his job otherwise. About Indian defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar I am not sure as lying to the public is a norm and accountability is non existent in the whole region."
Accountability may be absent in Pakistan but that is not the case in India. SO please do not generalize. The federal home minister and Maharashtra chief minister had to resign for dereliction of duty after 26/11. Several ministers of the ruling UPA and its allies are currently in jail due to corruption. A BJP chief minister of Karnataka also resigned once corruption charges against him surfaced. 3 MLAs in Karnataka resigned once the news about their porn viewing within the assembly became public.
In other words, whether national security, corruption or social norms accountability in India is across the board and across party lines. This differs from Pakistan where rulers (whether civilians or military) are never convicted and peope in opposition are not tolerated to live even within the country. (Musharraf cannot enter Pakistan right now. During his rein he did not allow Benazir and Nawaz to enter (until the signing of the infamous NRO.
@Satish Chandra: mission of snatching or neutralizing India’s nuclear warheads, as similar CIA teams successfully did in Pakistan.
please enlighten us when did they (CIA/America) snatched or controlled Pakistan's nuclear program?? many authentic reports suggest that Pakistan is building another reactor for the production of platinum bombs and Pakistan has reached at number 4 in the world's race of making nuclear bombs, And Still CIA have not been able to do damage our nuclear assets as they are safe and secure than any other country because of threats
Only a fool would believe that US is intending to neutralize Indias nuclear warheads. They need Indias nucleaf weapons to provide a counter weight to china and Pakistan.
Oh no! I hope India didn't think for a moment the "new" friend they were making in America was without any strings. The story is when you make friend with a giant you follow the giant's wishes & desires! Of course the reward is a chance of sitting with his giant friend in big dinners and shows. Well! Atleast we can tell our hungry & impoverished people atleast they will have the chance to see or go to the "Moon" one day.
A U.S. admiral when disclosing that U.S. special forces are stationed in India said they are 'not necessarily Department of Defense' but other agencies. These are CIA teams -- whose presence India's ministries of defence and external affairs spokespersons would not know about and hence are denying -- with the mission of snatching or neutralizing India's nuclear warheads, as similar CIA teams successfully did in Pakistan. Unless India's nuclear forces trigger India's nuclear warheads emplaced in New Delhi, Washington and New York without further delay (see my blog 'Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U.S.' which can be found by a Yahoo/Google search with the title), the result will be worse than in Pakistan because India's RAW and other forces work for the CIA . I have said Bikram Singh, who has been designated as the Army chief beginning May 31 '12 is a CIA-RAW man and that must not be allowed. India's CIA-RAW government has been in a hurry to bring him in as Army Chief to try and take India's nuclear warheads away from patriotic hands and in the hands of traitors. Satish Chandra
That means some one is being dishonest here. I don't think Pentagon commander Admiral Robert Willard will lie to the Congressional hearing as he could lose his job otherwise. About Indian defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar I am not sure as lying to the public is a norm and accountability is non existent in the whole region.