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Rediff.com  » News » India's progress is America's interest, says Burns

India's progress is America's interest, says Burns

By Aziz Haniffa
June 02, 2010 02:40 IST
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The Obama Administration continued to be on overdrive in re-emphasizing and reiterating Washington's commitment to a strategic partnership with India on the eve of the US-India Strategic Dialogue in Washington, DC, with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns declaring that "the simple truth is that India's strength and progress on the world stage is deeply in the strategic interest of the United States."

In remarks to the audience at the Council on Foreign Relations, Burns addressing the topic of India's Rise and the Promise of US-Indian Partnership,' but obviously bent on quashing the continuing concern among leading analysts and commentators both in the US and India that the Obama Administration is not as committed to the ties with India as was its predecessor George W Bush Administration, said, "Like President Clinton and President Bush before him, President Obama has laid strong and consistent emphasis on the enormous stake that the United States has in India's emerge as a global power."

"Never has there been a moment when India and America mattered more to one another. And never has there been a moment when partnership between India and America mattered more to the rest of the globe," he said.

Burns in one all-encompassing sweep, predicted that "as two of the world's leading democracies, we can helped build a new global commons--an international systems in which other democracies can flourish, human dignity is advanced, poverty is reduced, trade is expanded, our environment is preserved, violent extremists are marginalized, the spread of weapons of mass destruction is curbed, and new frontiers in science and technology are explored. That is the moment, and the promise, that lies before us."

Obviously reacting to the sustained concern being expressed in certain quarters both in Washington and Delhi raising doubts about the current administration's commitment to its relationship with India and that it's engagement has been more focused on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, in recent weeks the administration has been falling over itself to quash this increasing contention.

The US-India Strategic Dialogue, being co-chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna--coming close on the heels of the Strategic Dialogues the administration held with Pakistan and China, has been getting the kind of high profile that clearly is a manifestation that the Administration has been stung by much of the criticism that had been unrelenting.

Last week, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Robert Blake convening a special news conference to discuss the upcoming Dialogue said, 'The Obama administration attaches great importance to our relations with India, and as President Obama himself has said, this will be one of our signature partnerships in the 21st century."

Then, on Friday, the White House announced that President Obama himself would in an unprecedented and rare gesture, attend and deliver remarks at the Secretary of State's reception on June 3 at the State Department, at the conclusion of the Dialogue for the Indian delegation led by Krishna. "The President's strong support of the Strategic Dialogue and of this inaugural meeting reflects his commitment to furthering a strategic partnership with India as we seek to address global challenges," the White House said.

Earlier, in the day, Obama had telephoned Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to stress the importance of the upcoming Dialogue and reiterate his commitment to it and to its continuity.

Interestingly, Burns in his remarks said, "The further truth, however, is that progress in US-Indian partnership is not automatic. It requires continued hard work and vision on both sides. It requires patience and creativity. And it requires honesty in dealing head-on with concerns and doubts that arise on both sides."

He acknowledged that "we can't afford to gloss over such questions, or pretend that they don't exist. Some in India do worry today that the United States seeks to 're-hyphenate' relations with India…that we see India mainly through the prism of preoccupations in Afghanistan and Pakistan…that we won't push Pakistan hard enough on terrorist who kill and threaten Indians…that we will hurry toward the exit in Afghanistan and leave India holding the strategic pieces."

"Some in India worry that the new Administration is tempted by visions of a 'G-2' world…that we've 'downgraded' India because we see Asia exclusively through the lens of an emerging China, with India's role secondary."

Burns said, 'Let me speak plainly to those concerns. This Administration has been, and will remain, deeply committed to supporting India's rise and to building the strongest possible partnership between us," and he pointed out that "a third of the US cabinet has visited India in the first 16 months of the new Administration, and President Obama intends to visit later this year."

He asserted that "we have followed through energetically on our commitment to fulfilling the civil nuclear accord, completing a complicated reprocessing arrangement nearly six months ahead of schedule."

"The Strategic Dialogue that Secretary Clinton and Minister Krishna convene later this week, will bring together Cabinet-level representatives on both sides to consider new initiatives in areas like education, energy, counter-terrorism, and agriculture, and launching new dialogues on regional issues, from East Asia to the Middle East and Africa," he added.

Burns conceded that "of course, we seek a healthy relationship with China, as India itself seeks. But we do not see relations in Asia as a zero-sum game. Instead, we attack great significance to India's expanding role in East Asia, and welcome our partnership across the region."

He also in the same vein, argued, "Of course, the United States attaches considerable importance to relations with Pakistan, but those relations do not come at the expense of India. We refuse to accept the notion that somehow we can have strong relations with only one country in South Asia at a time."

And, to clear what Washington sees as misperceptions in Delhi that on Pakistan's urging and in turn on the directive of the Pentagon, Washington has decided to not just downplay India's role in Afghanistan but dissuade it from any high profile engagement in that war-ravaged country, Burns said, "we also highly value India's role in building economic and social opportunities in Afghanistan, and see India's continued involvement there as a key part of that country's future success, not part of its present problems."

Burns also declared Washington's interest in a rapprochement between India and Pakistan, but in reiterating US policy, pledged, "We will not inject ourselves into issues that divide the two governments unless India and Pakistan ask for our help, and we will continue to urge Pakistan to take decisive action against the violent extremists who threaten its own interests as much as they do the security of India and America. To put in simply," he said, "the only 'hyphen' that we will pursue with respect to our relationship is the one that links the United States and India."

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Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC