India Fears Pressure From U.S. to Mend Ties With Pakistan
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here on Friday, determined to put the United States’ relations with India on a broader footing, even as Indian commentators voiced fears that the Obama administration was preoccupied these days with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Mrs. Clinton’s three-day visit, the first by a senior American official since President Obama took office, will include meetings with business leaders, educators and prominent women — the kinds of personal encounters that she has made a hallmark of her early days as the nation’s chief diplomat.
With her elbow on the mend from a fracture last month, Mrs. Clinton is hitting the road after a hiatus during which some in Washington remarked on her low profile. She seems eager to step out in India, where her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has long been popular.
But she will also have to answer concerns that Mr.Obama’s intense focus on the insurgency in Pakistan, as well as the war in Afghanistan, will get in the way of the American-Indian relationship. India is sensitive about being put under pressure by the United States to ease tensions with Pakistan.
In a column published Friday in The Times of India, Mrs. Clinton wrote that she looked forward to discussing climate change, economic development and nuclear non-proliferation. And, she added, “We should encourage Pakistan as that nation confronts the challenge of violent extremism.”
Her fleeting reference to Pakistan drew the most attention: the newspaper made it the headline for the column.
Commentators here warned Washington not to try to pressure India into a deal with Pakistan over Kashmir — something the United States favours because it may persuade the Pakistani Army to shift troops from the country’s eastern border with India to the west, where the army could better fight Taliban insurgents.
“India is not in that class of nations, nor is it an age in which Washington can bend nations in that manner,” said an editorial Friday in the financial newspaper Mint. The paper welcomed Mrs. Clinton with a photo and headline, “Cold Wind from Washington.”
India and Pakistan agreed this week to resume negotiations over Kashmir and other issues, though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India insisted afterward that his government still demanded that Pakistan bring to justice those who planned the Mumbai attacks in November. India had halted those talks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai killed 166 people.
“I really see events trending in a very positive direction between India and Pakistan, in part because of the shared sacrifice, commitment and understanding that now exists about the threat,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview with an Indian broadcaster, CNN-IBN.
The bloodshed from the attacks in November will loom large in Mrs. Clinton’s visit: she is staying at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of the two hotels that were taken over for nearly three days by terrorists. She will take part in a ceremony commemorating the victims of those attacks.
During Mrs. Clinton’s visit, India is expected to announce two sites for American-supplied nuclear reactors, according to American officials. India pledged to award contracts for the reactors to American companies, in return for a landmark civilian nuclear trade agreement between the countries.
The visit may also produce an agreement that would allow the United States to monitor the “end use” of military equipment sold to India, to ensure that it is not diverted to other purposes or sold to other countries. That could open the door to the sale of 126 fighter jets to India.
With Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mrs. Clinton traveling to many countries before India, there has been some talk here about why this visit has taken so long.
“There’s a very simple answer to that,” said Robert O. Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs. The United States wanted to wait until India’s elections were completed, in mid-May. The re-election of Mr. Singh’s Congress Party “really opened the way for a new and invigorated partnership,” Mr. Blake said.
Sources: Newyork Times
Mrs. Clinton’s three-day visit, the first by a senior American official since President Obama took office, will include meetings with business leaders, educators and prominent women — the kinds of personal encounters that she has made a hallmark of her early days as the nation’s chief diplomat.
With her elbow on the mend from a fracture last month, Mrs. Clinton is hitting the road after a hiatus during which some in Washington remarked on her low profile. She seems eager to step out in India, where her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has long been popular.
But she will also have to answer concerns that Mr.Obama’s intense focus on the insurgency in Pakistan, as well as the war in Afghanistan, will get in the way of the American-Indian relationship. India is sensitive about being put under pressure by the United States to ease tensions with Pakistan.
In a column published Friday in The Times of India, Mrs. Clinton wrote that she looked forward to discussing climate change, economic development and nuclear non-proliferation. And, she added, “We should encourage Pakistan as that nation confronts the challenge of violent extremism.”
Her fleeting reference to Pakistan drew the most attention: the newspaper made it the headline for the column.
Commentators here warned Washington not to try to pressure India into a deal with Pakistan over Kashmir — something the United States favours because it may persuade the Pakistani Army to shift troops from the country’s eastern border with India to the west, where the army could better fight Taliban insurgents.
“India is not in that class of nations, nor is it an age in which Washington can bend nations in that manner,” said an editorial Friday in the financial newspaper Mint. The paper welcomed Mrs. Clinton with a photo and headline, “Cold Wind from Washington.”
India and Pakistan agreed this week to resume negotiations over Kashmir and other issues, though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India insisted afterward that his government still demanded that Pakistan bring to justice those who planned the Mumbai attacks in November. India had halted those talks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai killed 166 people.
“I really see events trending in a very positive direction between India and Pakistan, in part because of the shared sacrifice, commitment and understanding that now exists about the threat,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview with an Indian broadcaster, CNN-IBN.
The bloodshed from the attacks in November will loom large in Mrs. Clinton’s visit: she is staying at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of the two hotels that were taken over for nearly three days by terrorists. She will take part in a ceremony commemorating the victims of those attacks.
During Mrs. Clinton’s visit, India is expected to announce two sites for American-supplied nuclear reactors, according to American officials. India pledged to award contracts for the reactors to American companies, in return for a landmark civilian nuclear trade agreement between the countries.
The visit may also produce an agreement that would allow the United States to monitor the “end use” of military equipment sold to India, to ensure that it is not diverted to other purposes or sold to other countries. That could open the door to the sale of 126 fighter jets to India.
With Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mrs. Clinton traveling to many countries before India, there has been some talk here about why this visit has taken so long.
“There’s a very simple answer to that,” said Robert O. Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs. The United States wanted to wait until India’s elections were completed, in mid-May. The re-election of Mr. Singh’s Congress Party “really opened the way for a new and invigorated partnership,” Mr. Blake said.
Sources: Newyork Times
Labels: Hillary Clinton visit to India
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