Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

At the start of the United States-India Strategic Dialogue on Thursday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna pressed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a request to provide Indian authorities with access to David Coleman Headley, accused in the Mumbai attacks and currently in the custody of the United States. He also pushed for relaxation of export control restrictions by the U.S. on high-tech goods sought by India.

In a clear indication of India's frustration with the lack of progress in the Headley case over two months after Headley struck a bargain with the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Krishna said, "access for our authorities to persons who have been apprehended by your Government in connection with [the] Mumbai terror attack is the logical next step."

Mr. Krishna added, "We are confident that our continued cooperation will lead to [the] realisation of this objective." He however noted that India valued the support it had received from the U.S. government in its investigations.

He also touched upon another area where India is awaiting a favourable U.S. policy response -- export control restrictions on high-tech goods, particularly dual-use items.

In this regard Mr. Krishna said in his opening remarks, "Given the strategic nature of our partnership and particularly the conclusion of the Civil Nuclear Initiative, these controls are not only anomalous but also a hindrance to furthering trade and investment in this particularly significant sector of our economies."

He added that India looked forward to "early steps in this direction".

On dispelling doubts

In her statements, Secretary Clinton sought to dispel 'doubts that remain on both sides'. Ms. Clinton said there were still "doubts among some Indians that the U.S. only, or mainly, sees India in the context of Afghanistan or Pakistan, or that we will hasten our departure from Afghanistan leaving India to deal with the aftermath".

She noted that equally, there were also "doubts in America that India has not fully embraced its role in regional or global affairs or will not make the economic reform needed to foster additional progress".

However, she argued that with this Dialogue and the level of confidence that India and the U.S. have established between themselves, they would "confront these challenges directly and candidly".

Click here for video of joint press conference by Hillary Clinton and S.M. Krishna. Source: U.S. State Department.

Labels: David Coleman Headley, high-technology exports, Hillary Clinton, India-U.S. ties, non-proliferation agenda, nuclear security, S.M. Krishna, Strategic Dialogue, UNSC

From The Hindu

“The Government [of India] is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime… [and] we look forward to U.S. companies investing in India,” said External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.

Speaking before the start of the United States-India Strategic Dialogue at an event hosted by the U.S.-India Business Council, Mr. Krishna said many companies in the U.S. were in dialogue with Indian companies already, adding, "We would like it to be as robust a partnership as we have both envisioned."

Highlighting some of the key areas of discussion over the coming days, Mr. Krishna said, they would include a wide range of subjects, "from countering terrorism and extremism, advancing nuclear security, working to secure the global commons, seeking to build a developed and cooperative Asia, and succeeding in Afghanistan to dialogues for co-operation in science and technology, research for clean energy and monsoon prediction, health and education, and a dialogue on women’s empowerment".

Mr. Krishna noted that the Dialogue would also be an important occasion for India and the U.S. to reflect on the remarkable journey that the two democracies had embarked upon, and to set their sights on new milestones.

High-technology exports

He also touched upon the question of restrictions on high-technology exports to India from the U.S., an issue that industry associations such as the High Technology Cooperation Group have been emphasising over the last few months.

Making a strong pitch for fewer restrictions Mr. Krishna said, “Indian importers have a 100 per cent compliance record when it comes to safeguarding imported technology — we have been implementing the End-Use Verification Agreement with U.S. partners for years now — and have, last year, agreed to a Technical Safeguards Agreement in space co-operation.”

He noted that India also had the End Use Monitoring arrangement for defence acquisitions and had “given a number of written assurances that U.S. technology will enjoy the level of security stipulated by the relevant U.S. laws and not be diverted in contravention of U.S. regulations.”

He said given these assurances and the trust fostered through strategic dialogue, the two countries “should be able to create an environment for a robust two way trade in advanced technology products.”

Mr. Krishna will meet with his counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other U.S. officials on Thursday as part of the formal Strategic Dialogue discussions. President Barack Obama will also meet with the Indian delegation at the State Department during what is expected to be a star-studded reception for attending dignitaries and select media.

Labels: high-technology exports, Hillary Clinton, India-U.S. ties, non-proliferation agenda, nuclear security, S.M. Krishna, Strategic Dialogue, UNSC

From The Hindu

There is no escaping a strong sense of déjà vu surrounding the upcoming United States-India Strategic Dialogue to be held here this week. Both countries are poised, yet again, to do what they have done ever since President Obama took office, namely, skip through policy minefields while professing unwavering cooperation on a range of less exigent issues.

Much like the previous meetings, this one will not be about Pakistan’s inability or unwillingness to deliver justice through the prosecution of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Speaking before the talks Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, said that regarding Punjab-based terror groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, “Pakistan has [acted against them] in the past between 2004 and 2007, and that laid the basis for a very significant expansion in relations between India and Pakistan.” Then why exactly did the Mumbai attacks occur? This “softly, softly” approach towards Pakistan may be wearing dangerously thin.

Neither will this meeting recognise a fundamental dissonance within President Obama’s nuclear security and non-proliferation agenda — that powers such as the U.S. and Russia continue to maintain significant and less-than-secure arsenals even as they turn up the heat on de facto nuclear powers like India.

Questions to be raised

Would India dare remind the U.S. that it was on American soil that six nuclear warheads fixed to cruise missiles were mistakenly carried on a B-52 bomber in 2007, violating numerous Cold-War-era treaties? Would India even contemplate asking the U.S. to bring Israel’s nuclear programme into the spotlight as it has done Iran’s?

Much like the previous dialogue, this one will certainly not be about understanding India’s views on third parties like Iran, regardless of India’s strategic closeness to that country.

Given its absence at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India will have no say in the decision by the P5+1 group to mete out rough justice to Iran through UNSC sanctions, which completely undermine Iran’s promise to move low-enriched uranium off its soil under the fuel-swap deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil.

Global, bilateral issues on agenda

Instead, global and bilateral issues have been placed on the agenda which, though worthy of holding the relationship to a positive pitch, make a proverbial 200-pound gorilla of the other burning questions.

The most telling sign that the U.S.-India engagement is set to simmer but will never get fully cooked was a statement by Mr. Blake to a question on what the deliverables of the Strategic Dialogue would be. He said, “I do not want to talk about the deliverables now. But we are really not focused that much on deliverables.”

Labels: India-U.S. ties, Lashkar-e-Taiba, non-proliferation agenda, nuclear security, Robert Blake, Strategic Dialogue, UNSC