US welcomes additional police outside its embassy in Delhi

This, after barricades were removed outside the facility amidst a diplomatic row

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The United States welcomed Indian government's move to deploy an additional 150 police personal outside the US Embassy in New Delhi, weeks after removal of barricades outside the facility as a fallout of relations after the arrest of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the US.

"We welcome statements from the Ministry of External Affairs that India is fully committed to ensuring the safety and security of all diplomats in Delhi and elsewhere," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said yesterday.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General in New York, was arrested on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid Sangeeta Richard. She was released on a $250,000 bond.

The episode has triggered a row between the two sides, with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats among other steps last month.

"Beyond that (deployment of additional personnel), I'm not going to get into a lot of specifics about our security posture, but certainly we appreciate the police's efforts and we'll move forward from here," Harf said.

The US government has been voicing concerns over the security of their diplomatic personnel after India enforced strict reciprocity by removing the barricades.  Earlier, the US authorities had opened the parking in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington to general public and refused to reinstate it despite repeated requests.