The American ambassador to India, Nancy Powell said she has resigned and will retire before the end of May, ending a two-year tenure after the strip-search of an Indian diplomat in New York City badly damaged U.S.-India ties.
The State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, on Tuesday in Washington said Powell, who took the post in April 2012, was expected to retire before the end of May.
Harf said the move was in no way related to any tension or any recent situations between the US and India.
She said any speculation that Powell’s departure was linked to the diplomatic row were totally false.
The spokeswoman said Powell was a career diplomat with 37 years experience at the state department, having previously served as ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan and Nepal.
“I did not know why Powell chose to leave, but I can assure you that the relationship between the two countries is much broader than our ambassadors and didn’t indicate any realignment of the relationship,” she said.
The row between the two countries erupted in December, when the US arrested and detained Devyani Khobragade, India’s Deputy Consul General in New York, on charges of visa fraud and making false statements on a visa application for her Indian housekeeper.
The charges were dismissed by a federal judge three weeks ago.
The judge cited Khobragade’s consular immunity, but said there was no bar to a new indictment because she had left the country and no longer had immunity in the US.