U.S. to work with India on nuke deal

NEW DELHI, July 23 (UPI) -- The United States says it looks forward to working with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government on the still-hanging Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told the Press Trust of India news agency the United States wants to keep working with the Singh government "on strengthening our strategic partnership with India and working on a number of important bilateral issues including a US-India civilian nuclear agreement."

His comments came after Singh's government Tuesday night won a crucial trust vote called in Parliament after the leftist parties in Singh's coalition withdrew support to protest the nuclear deal.

Specifically, the leftist parties were miffed after the government decided to refer the 3-year-old nuclear deal to the International Atomic Energy Agency for a "safeguards agreement" in continuation of a process to make the deal operational.

The deal was originally signed by Singh and U.S. President George Bush in 2005.