Coimbatore (PTI): The Left parties in India on Sunday got a shot in the arm in their opposition to the strategic tie-up with the United States, with an American communist leader saying Washington's plan for Asia was to "pit one country against another" and isolate China.

Describing the Bush Administration as a "destabilising factor" in the "world polity", Communist Party of USA's leader Terrie Albano said "we have no illusion what they want to do with the Indo-US nuclear deal. They want to bind India into a long-term coalition for them which they can use against another country."

In an interview to PTI on the sidelines of the 19th Congress of CPI(M) here, she said "they (Bush Administration) have an overall strategic plan for Asia. They will try to pit one country against the other and, in particular, isolate China".

Albano, who is a member of the National Board of the US Communist Party, supported the CPI(M)'s stand that the independence of India's foreign policy would be adversely affected through a strategic tie-up with the US and said "this independent stand of India has been a stabilising factor" in the South Asian sub-continent.

"The Bush Administration is a destabilising factor in the world polity. This has been reflected in their military invasion of Iraq and their support for Israel which has been carrying out massacre of the Palestinian people, especially women and children, in the Gaza strip," she said.

However, she supported India's need for energy, including nuclear power, but made it clear that the US "military-industrial complex" was supporting the American government for the policies it was pursuing like opposing the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

As the US government policies were "heavily influenced by the American military-industrial complex, so it (Indo-US nuclear deal) may not be an equal cooperation which we favour. The position of the US Communist Party is totally different from that of our government," Albano said.

Asked what her party thought about the US-led war on terror, she said "now we have more terrorists in the world. The war on terror is a fig-leaf for bigger ambitions of the Bush Administration."

The American communist said the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the attacks against Palestinian people by Israel were pointers to Washington's plans to establish a "Middle East Free Trade Zone" in the long run so that they can control all the oil resources. "This has nothing to do with the war on terror."

She said the terrorists in Afghanistan were earlier funded and run by the CIA and now they are the enemies.

"Over 70 per cent of the American people say the US is going in a wrong direction. They want the US to be cooperative and not belligerent. They want it to pull out of Iraq and be a leader of the world in a positive sense and not continue military aggression."

On the US Presidential elections, Albano said a large number of "progressive" forces were working for the Democratic Party candidates. "It is a coalition effort ... The unions, the progressive forces are carrying out a mass battle and this is finding expression in the Democratic Party."

She also called for greater "globalised cooperation" among trade unions of the world to face the challenges of economic liberalisation and globalisation.