New Delhi, March 24 -- Noting that the United States sees India not merely as a key partner, but as an essential one in ensuring favorable balance of power in Asia, US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby on Tuesday said his country's assessment of Indo-American partnership has its roots in practicality and is a manifestation of what the national security strategy calls Flexible Realism.

At a Special Session in New Delhi, Elbridge Colby said the US approach to the strategic partnership is interest-based and realistic, shaped by geopolitics and incentives as opposed to gauzy aspirations or detached idealism.

"The United States views India with deep respect as a republic of continental scale, as a nation with a proud strategic...