Analysts have been predicting a “dip” in India-US ties after the high of the Bush years.
The pillars of the agenda based “relationship” is a land mine for both parties. The agenda is based on cooperation in Security, Defence, and Civil nuclear cooperation and Space. By all counts, all of these are accident prone issues. On security the US has clearly over ruled Delhi’s paranoia about Pakistan. To make matters worse, Delhi is being told to remove its forces from Kashmir. On Defense, the US companies will sell Bharat the stripped down versions of planes that no one else wants to purchase.
The capstone of the Bush presidency was the Civilian Nuclear sale. This is where the cooperation between Delhi and Washington comes to a grinding halt. With poison pills in the agreement, the Democrats in Congress are chomping at the bits to begin implementing the Hyde Amendment which essential places Delhi’s Nukes in a straight-jacket.
One of the humongous poision pills is the CSC, which India is refusing to sign.
With the nuclear deal done, there are still several steps to be taken before India can engage in civil nuclear commerce, he said. “In May, the Indian government’s safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency entered into force and India subsequently signed its Additional Protocol. India still must file a declaration of safeguarded facilities with the IAEA in order to complete the steps necessary to allow Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing,” Blake said.
India still has to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damages (CSC), for liability protection for private companies.
India has thus far refused to identify two nuclear park sites for US firms. The US has been pushing for it but India will probably wait for the reprocessing talks to start first, which are scheduled for the end of this month.
Below the rehtoric, there is a lot of tension, and even the Times of India could not put a positive spin on it.
If the AEI speech is any indication of things to come, the relationship has been dramatically downgraded.
In remarks to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, US assistant secretary of state for South Asia Robert Blake said given the unprecedented cooperation after the Mumbai attacks, “terror-financing, law enforcement, training and information sharing” will be part of the new relationship.
“In recent months, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and national security advisor Jim Jones all visited India to underline and strengthen that cooperation,” Blake said.
Clinton’s visit, he said, would raise the curtains to “India-US 3.0″ and answer critics who say the relationship has been diminished.
Security cooperation has entailed deep exchanges between US and Indian security agencies, particularly as India was trying to build a case to convince the world that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by Pakistan based and supported groups.
Defence cooperation is likely to take off as a slew of agreements are waiting to be signed. “We are working hard to conclude bilateral agreements such as the End Use Monitoring Agreement to ensure defence sales and military-to-military cooperation can continue their positive trajectory,” Blake said. TOI
Delhi also has to answer for the ramplings at BRIC as well as the moves against the Dollar. They do not sit will in Washington. Delhi’s role is Afghanistan has been diminished and there is tremendous pressure to solve Kashmir.
