India has rejected a US proposal for joint operation against Lashkar-e-Taiba, in a move that has baffled many given that LeT is the principal terror threat to India, and that counter-terrorism has been a high bilateral priority. According to sources, the reluctance has primarily to do with the bitter memories of the cold shoulder they got from American counterparts for decades. While US thought that its effort to insulate its love for Pakistan from counter-terror cooperation with India would help India to forget the past, for Indian intelligence agencies it's a leap of faith that's still a while away.
Apart from the unhappy experience with American agencies, India is reluctant to let its officials work closely with the US for a couple of reasons. First, politically, Indian security leadership fears that allying too closely with the US could tar India with the same brush by a large part of the world, and who knows, by India's own citizens, as being "anti-Islamic". "Whether valid or not, it's a perception that America has been saddled with, and we don't want to be seen through that lens," said a senior security source. "It will be against our larger national interest."
Second, there remains the Indian fear of US counter-intelligence. Poorly paid Indian operatives, fear officials, could be ripe targets for American counter-intelligence. It's no secret that Indian intelligence officials are badly maintained by the state, leaving them vulnerable. The defection of Ravinder Singh to the US and the breach of the National Security Council Secretariat by a US undercover agent at the US embassy have not worked to allay those fears. So India reacts by prohibiting any contact between Indian and US officials. It's no use saying friends don't spy on friends, because they do, everywhere. India does it itself.
That said, India recognises that international cooperation on terror is vitally important, and the US offer at this point in time, given the present international situation and US pressure on Pakistan, opens up a window of opportunity for India. For the time being, India and the US will stick to exchanging information, but are far away from joint operations, or even jointly penetrating networks.