Strobe Talbott

WASHINGTON : Indo-U.S. relations would be taken to newer heights of cooperation and mutual understanding irrespective of whether President Bush or Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry wins in November, said Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution.

Talbott, who played a prominent role in the Clinton Administration toup a new era of friendship with India, said there was a huge bipartisan support for a positive American approach to India and this would continue to fuel better relations in the future.

He did not think there would be a dramatic difference whoever wins, despite the public pronouncements of Kerry on outsourcing jobs to India.

Talking with a group of Indian journalists at the Brookings Institution here on Sept. 7 Talbott, former U.S. Deputy Secretary, said there was “huge bipartisan support” for a positive American approach to India.

He disputed the notion that only under Republican administrations did bilateral relations take on a substantive direction.

In the general realm of foreign and national security policies, there are great differences between the incumbent Republican President and his Democratic challenger but “this is not the case with India,” the former Clinton administration official said.

On the issue of outsourcing, Talbott argued that Senator Kerry “has left himself with room between policy and the campaign.”

“Indo-U.S. relations have a lot of ballast to it, and it is not subject to being tossed and turned around. “One reason is the growing influence in recent years of the Indian-American community. Politically it is very active. There are great differences between Bush and Kerry but their administrations would not be very different for India,” he said.

Asked what his advice to Kerry on India would be, Talbott said it was very important for the South Asian region to be “elevated” in American security calculations.

And with respect to India there were at least two things that needed to be done: develop the relationship in all its dimensions and promise and not totally abandon the non-proliferation treaty.

The non-proliferation regime, according to Talbott, had to be pursued with India in a manner that did not sour its relations with the United States but at the same time it should not be shoved under the rug.

Replying to questions on his latest book ‘Engaging India — Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb,’ Talbott said the key to resolving the dispute between India and Pakistan lies in making the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir an international border. His book also refers to the Clinton-Nawaz Sharif statement on maintaining the sanctity of the LOC.