|
Hilary Visit to India, Indo US Relations |
 |
President Barack’s Obama’s preoccupations at home and his greater focus on Pakistan, promising it more economic and military aid to fight the Taliban, the need to deal with the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan ahead of Presidential elections there, the confrontation with Iran and North Korea on the nuclear issues, perhaps have taken the shine out of the burgeoning Indo-US relations under the former Bush Administration. There is a sense in India of being ignored by President Obama, especially because President Bush had gone out of the way, even at the cost of protestations by Pakistan and criticism at home, to sign a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with this country and using his personal influence with the other European nations and China to have the NSG restrictions on nuclear commerce waived for New Delhi. Under no American Administration the Indo-US ties were as intimate and close as they were during the Bush Administration.
Let did not escape India’s notice that soon after he took office, President Obama telephoned top world leaders except Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India also did not figure in the first foreign policy document issued by the new Administration soon after it took office in January, 2009. Ms Hillary Clinton, during her first visit to Asia after being appointed Secretary of State, had not included India in her itinerary, giving further rise to speculations that the Obama administration was not warming up to India as much as the Bush administration did.
A report authored by Congressman Howard Barman, Chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, has urged President Obama to appoint a high-level aide for a bilateral dialogue with the newly-formed Government in New Delhi to define a mutual vision for economic integration. The report titled “Enhancing Indo-US cooperation in the global innovation economy”, said President Obama should include India in his expected trip to Asia later this year. Another report prepared by the Congress Research Service for American law makers advised President Obama to stay away from any “high visibility” focus on the contentious issue of Kashmir as it was likely to evoke Indian resistance and risk fuelling Pakistani expectations of a settlement favouring Islamabad.
But President Obama did suggest to India to resolve the Kashmir dispute so that Pakistan could focus on fighting Taliban. First the Obama Administration tried to tag India with its Afghanistan-Pakistan agenda when a special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, was appointed. Obama refrained from it only after India protested. Earlier, he mooted a proposal to appoint former President Bill Clinton as an envoy on Kashmir, but, dropped the idea when his advisers told him that this would be greatly resented by New Delhi. However, this has not stopped the Obama Administration from advising New Delhi time and again that an early resolution of the Kashmir issue and pullback of forces from the border with Kashmir were in the security interests of India too as this will make Pakistan fight more aggressively the terrorists at home many of whom have strong Jihadi connections with terrorists focused on Kashmir.
There has been a steady stream of senior American officials ranging from the special envoy on Af-Pak, Richard Holbrooke, Under Secretary of State William Burns and the National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones, visiting New Delhi advising India to resume talks with Pakistan suspended after the Mumbai terror attacks. New Delhi continues to maintain that formal talks cannot resume unless Pakistan takes firm and determined action against the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on India.
For India, the key is the double standards practised by Pakistan, with the US looking the other way – fighting insurgents at home but sponsoring and supporting the terrorists executing attacks in Kashmir. The release of the JuD leader, Hafiz Saeed, and others is an indication that Pakistan is not serious in standing by its commitment of not to allow use of its territory for attacks in India. America’s compulsions of taking Pakistan on board to fight the Taliban militants has ensured that it is no longer pressurising Islamabad to do more on bringing the culprits of the Mumbai attacks to book.
President Obama’s outbursts on outsourcing of jobs and penalizing companies which take the American jobs out of the country has also not enamoured New Delhi.
On the nuclear issue, unlike the conciliatory approach of President Bush, President Obama holds very strong views on the proliferation. At home, he is planning to take the initiative to have a congressional ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty [CTBT] which the previous administrations have resisted. This will put renewed pressure on India and the other three countries [Pakistan, Israel and North Korea] which have refused to append their signatures on the NPT, to sign in. Alhough President Obama is unlikely to tinker with the 123 agreement signed between the two countries under the Bush Administration, India is expected to come under greater pressure to put its signatures on the NPT and CTBT. Ms Hillary Clinton, soon after her appointment had described the NPT as the cornerstone of the new Administration’s policies. Marking a shift in his policy on the nuclear disarmament issue which promises to keep India engaged, Obama has appointed Robert Einhorn, a hardliner as State Department’s special adviser on the nuclear non-proliferation and arms control, James B. Seinberg, Assistant Secretary of State and Dr. John Holdren as has science advisor in a clear indication that the nuclear issue would be on top of his agenda. By appointing Robert Einhorn, jocularly called the “grand Ayatollah” of non-proliferation, Obama has sent the message that he would try to complete the unfinished task of the Clinton Administration. His appointment of Ms Ellen Tauscher as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, has further cast a shadow on burgeoning India-US ties, particularly their nuclear deal. As a Democratic Congresswoman from California, Ms Ellen Tauscher was one of the most prominent critics of the Bush Administration’s push to open the door of global nuclear commerce for India. Not only did she vote against the 123 agreement in the House last year but she also opposed amending the terms of the deal to make the cut-off of fissile material production by India a pre-condition when the Hyde Act was before Congress in 2006.
Allaying the perception that India was losing Obama’s attention, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, stressed that India's importance to the United States has not diminished under President Barack Obama's Administration as is being speculated in certain quarters. He said the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, when she visits New Delhi later this month, is going to announce new strategic partnership between the two great nations. Analysts in India would like to believe that perhaps there is a belated realization that President Obama should to engage India, an emerging economic and regional power which was sought by the previous regimes in Washington to contain the spread of China. There is also probably a realisation that the US cannot afford to lose out India which promises huge opportunities for the US business and nuclear commerce after the nuclear agreement has opened up new areas of business. It is in this context that the visit of Ms Clinton assumes importance.
|
