February
16, 2008 N-deal Collapse Won't
Impact
on India-US Military Ties
New Delhi
If the India-US civilian nuclear deal collapses, it will not impact
on the growing military ties between the two countries, a top
official in the administration of former US president Bill Clinton
says.
"In fact, I see the military ties growing," former defence secretary
William S. Cohen said at a press conference here Saturday on the
sidelines of the DEFEXPO-2008 international defence exposition here.
Cohen is here as member of a US-India Business Council (USIBC)
delegation that is visiting the exposition.
"We are seeing more training and joint exercises. Our armed forces
are able to communicate with each other and that is a good thing
because it means our military ties have a dynamics of their own,"
said Cohen, who runs a Washington-based think tank on strategic and
tactical affairs.
"The promise of deeper US-India defence cooperation is now a
reality, with collaborations and joint ventures between US and
Indian firms already underway," he added.
"Having said that, I must also say that the longer the nuclear deal
takes, the more difficult it will become (to operationalise it)," he
added.
"Whoever the new president is and regardless of the party he or she
belongs to, will have new priorities and will first have to put in
place a new administration," Cohen explained.
"Thus, we are looking at two to three years before the deal is
looked at again. In that period, the opposition to the deal will
resurface."
"Then we have the problem of Iran. We have the GCC (Gulf Cooperation
Council) saying it is committed to nuclear power. From there to
weapons is the next stage. That raises the danger of these weapons
being acquired by the wrong groups," Cohen maintained.
"So, on the one hand, we have to deal with this threatened
proliferation of nuclear weapons and on the other we are working
hard to open the nuclear door for India," he said.
"It's all a question of timing. The opportunity is now there. It's
for the Indian government to take a decision on what it thinks is
best," Cohen added.
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