'N-deal shouldn't be hostage to Indo-Iran ties'

Thu, May 1 09:50 AM

A former US government official has said while the civilian nuclear deal between India and the United States could well end up with the next administration, a new American President is not likely to scuttle what has been achieved of it.

"I certainly hope that wouldn't happen," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior official of the National Security Council in-charge of Asia, when asked if a new President is likely to scuttle the civilian nuclear initiative.

Riedel also said in an interview to the Council on Foreign Relations that American-Indian relations, including the nuke deal should not become hostage to New Delhi's ties with Iran.

"This deal is the basis for strong US-Indian relationship and I support it. There is certainly a possibility that a new administration may try to strengthen the nonproliferation parts of it, and might, particularly if the Democrats are elected, try to revive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

"But the first step there of course would be for the United States to ratify the CTBT. I don't think we could go to the Indians and ask them to do something that we haven't done so far," he said.

The delay by India on the civilian nuclear deal is entirely due to politics in the governing coalition, maintained Riedel.

"The Congress negotiated the deal and it wants to conclude it. But its junior partner in the coalition, the Communists, opposes the deal for a very simple reason. They recognize that the deal is the pathway by which US-Indian relations are going to get much stronger.

"The Communists are basically opposed to a strong US-Indian strategic partnership and they want to try to scuttle the deal," Riedel said.

"When I was in India a few weeks ago, the government made its determination very clear to push this deal forward and to get its various bits and pieces put together to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and then take it to the Nuclear Suppliers Group."

"Sooner or later, the Congress government will force a showdown with the Communists, probably closer to the next scheduled Indian elections in May 2009. This agreement is probably one that is going to slip over into the next Indian administration too," Riedel maintained.

On the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal, Riedel said the project was a very complex deal and negotiations were on from a very a long time.

"My own suspicion is that it's still probably years away from being operational. American relations with India should not become a hostage to Indian-Iranian relations.

"India does have a working relationship with Iran.

India is the world's second largest Shiite Muslim country.

There are almost as many Shiites in India as there are in Iran," Riedel said.

"But India also has a very strong relationship with Israel. Today, India is Israel's number one customer for military exports, and India and Israel have a very close relationship in terms of space activity. India has been a launching point for Israels most sophisticated spy satellite, which will be launched later this year, and several that are coming up.

"So if you compare the India-Israel relationship with the India-Iran relationship on a strategic level, India and Israel are much closer and have much more intimate relations in terms of military technology transfers and space research than India has with Iran," he added.

On the economic front the former official pointed out that the US-India trade relationship is growing.

"The US trade with India has been increasing and US investment in India has been growing. The Indian economy is now growing at about 9 per cent (GDP growth), which by Indian standards and by any standard is really remarkable.

"The change in India in the last decade is one of the most revolutionary developments in the world. We see India really, at long last, beginning to have the kind of economic growth rate that people have always hoped for.

"There is still a great deal of poverty but there is an enormous amount of change and wealth. India will soon have the world's largest oil refinery in Jamnagar by Reliance Industries. It's a symbol of the country's growing emergence as a major economic power," he said.

"The Reliance refinery will be able to process virtually every kind of oil from around the world from heavy to light, making it really one of the most attractive refineries for oil throughout the globe. It will not be dependent upon a certain kind of oil to come to it. It's one example of the economic change that is happening there," Riedel added.

RECOMMEND THIS STORY