White House says US-India nuclear talks 'not there yet'
Washington:
It may not be possible to reach a landmark nuclear agreement
between India and the United States by the time President
George W. Bush travels to New Delhi next week, a top Bush
adviser said on Friday. The deal, first agreed to in principle
last July, aims to give India access to long-denied U.S.
nuclear equipment and fuel to meet its soaring energy needs.
"In this latest round, the Indians provided a document about
a week ago. We provided some additional ideas in response.
Nick Burns (U.S.Undersecretary of State) went to India.
There have been good consultations. He is now coming back
to Washington to report on where we are on those discussions.
We're making progress but we're not yet there," White House
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters
here.
The
deal, agreed to in principle last July, has run into trouble.
The United States insists a plan to separate India's civilian
and military nuclear programmes, on which the deal hinges,
must be credible and transparent to prevent proliferation.
If an agreement is reached, it would be a big achievement
for Bush's trip. Hadley insisted if a deal is not sealed,
it would not mar Bush's visit. "We would obviously like,
and the Indians would like to use the occasion of this visit
to reach agreement on this separation agreement, so-called.
We think that would be a good thing, but it's important
to have a good agreement that works for the Indians, works
for the United States, will be acceptable to our Congress
and to the nuclear suppliers group and that's our objective.
We'd like to get it before the trip. If we can, great. If
we can't, we'll continue to negotiate it after the trip,"
said Hadley. Bush told India's Doordarshan television the
nuclear agreement was a "tough issue" for both sides. Bush
departs on Tuesday for his first visits to India and Pakistan.
He will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
in New Delhi to bolster what Hadley called a U.S.-Indian
"strategic partnership."
Hadley
said the main obstacle to an agreement was getting clarification
from the Indian side "about what's in the civil side and
what's on the military side." "It's just a, getting some
clarification from the Indian side, about what's in the
civil side, and what's on the military side, not only in
terms of what exists now at this time, but what are going
to be the ground rules going forward. There's a lot of technical
aspects to it," said Hadley. Bush will also hold talks with
Indian business leaders amid a surge of U.S. job outsourcing
to India and a 30 percent increase in U.S. exports, than
in the past year. Ending his trip in Islamabad, Bush will
underscore U.S.-Pakistani cooperation in the war on terrorism
with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. While Human Rights
Watch called on Bush to urge Musharraf to end military rule,
Bush did not sound like he was going to put much pressure
on the Pakistani leader. While in Islamabad, Bush plans
to see cricket. On the Indian-U.S. nuclear deal, Undersecretary
of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns was returning
to Washington to report on his two days of talks with Indian
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. The deal would not only give
India access to U.S. civilian atomic technology but help
lift a global ban on New Delhi receiving similar supplies
from other nuclear nations. But Washington's desire to see
a large chunk of India's 22 nuclear reactors placed under
international safeguards has rankled India's nuclear establishment.
Hadley said the main obstacle to an agreement was getting
clarification from the Indian side "about what's in the
civil side and what's on the military side -- not only in
terms of what exists now, at this time, but what are going
to be the ground rules going forward." Hadley said the nuclear
deal with bring both Washington and New Delhi on the same
platform. "I think what the nuclear agreement does is it
brings India into and has India accepting the kinds of proliferation
restrictions that the rest of the international community
has accepted. Because the U.S.-Indian civil nuclear cooperation
is premised on India and the United States getting on the
same page with respect to proliferation," he said. The deal
has also come under strong opposition from the American
non-proliferation lobby, which says cooperation with India
-- which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
-- would let it expand its military program and also encourage
other countries to do the same.
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