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In order to create a truly strategic relationship, the Obama administration will need to go beyond the civil nuclear cooperation, drawing on areas of common concern and interest.

As the nuclear deal flounders under pressure from the Left, and with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh belatedly awakened to the cruel compulsions of coalition politics, officials in the Bush administration are venting their frustration in private. Xenia Dormandy of Harvard University is optimistic: "The only question is whether it is in early 2008 or after a new US administration in 2009," she says, adding a rider that it will require the Indian PM to use all his political equity to face down the Left parties.

As director for South Asia at the US National Security Council, Xenia Dormandy played a key role coordinating the July 2005 visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington. The trip resulted in the historic civilian nuclear agreement which today, under attack from the United Progressive Alliance’s Left partners, appears to be floundering. In an interview, Ms Dormandy expressed confidence that the nuclear deal would go through. It’s only a matter of when, she said.