Most crucially awaited was an explanation of the expected role of the United Nations in any peacekeeping force, the minister told reporters.

A Pentagon team in New Delhi earlier this week was unable to provide the answers India needed before committing its troops to post-war Iraq, Fernandes said.

"Only after we have got all the answers can we take a decision," he said.

New Delhi is weighing whether to send as many as 15,000 troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Iraq and has said it will consult major political parties and Iraq's neighbours before reaching a decision.

India's main opposition Congress party is not alone in characterizing any troop deployment to Iraq as a violation of the country's emphatic rejection of the US-led military offensive against Baghdad.

Fernandes said an exploratory visit by Indian army doctors to Iraq to determine whether to establish a hospital was not linked to the possible troop deployment.

"It is only to provide relief to the war-ravaged people of Iraq," he added.

Fernandes said that India had even been thinking of sending an aeroplane to be converted into a temporary hospital, but decided against it for security reasons.

WAR.WIRE