The relationship between the US and India is described by proponents in both countries as a “natural alliance”. There are many reasons why this newfound partnership between the world’s two largest democracies seems both powerful and inevitable. However, its contours have yet to be fully defined.

While there is still enormous room for improvement, ties are unlikely to regress to the days of alternating hostility and apathy, when India regarded the US as part of its own “axis of evil” along with China and Pakistan, while Washington sidelined India, stopping only to lecture it on non-proliferation matters.