Washington waiting for summit outcome

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JULY 13. The Bush administration has not said anything significant on the coming summit meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. And for a good reason. For an administration surprised by allegations that its pressure led to the Indian invitation to Gen. Musharraf, the idea was not to make matters worse.

Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council is likely to say much until the talks end and India and Pakistan make formal statements. Washington's reactions are expected by next Monday or Tuesday.

If the administration here is saying it did not have anything to do with the summit meeting, it does not mean that it has not been nudging the two countries for a dialogue. The need for New Delhi and Islamabad to start a dialogue has been emphasised at different levels starting with the President, Mr. George W. Bush.

The administration has been quick to point out that there is no question of the United States getting involved over Kashmir unless asked to do so by the two sides. Islamabad can do all the talking it wants of third party mediation, but Washington is not going to be the third party.

Limited role

Some point to West Asia as an example of the limited role the U.S. can play. It is being stressed that Washington cannot want peace any more than what Israelis or the Palestinians can want. And the Bush administration, beginning with the President, has been saying that peace in West Asia can neither be on an American agenda nor within an American time-frame. It has to be worked out by the parties involved. The same goes for India and Pakistan, it is argued.

Few here are looking for dramatic results in Agra. However, they say the summit must be the beginning of high-level bilateral talks. Senior Bush administration officials are said to have made this known during the recent visits of the National Security Adviser, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, and Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar. The feeling in official circles here is that talks at the level of Foreign Secretaries will be non- starters.

The Republican administration will be getting a first hand ``briefing'' of the summit when the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, meets the Minister for External Affairs and Defence, Mr. Jaswant Singh, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Hanoi later this month. And there will be other occasions as well involving mutual visits of top officials in the next several weeks.

Apart from the Agra summit and the ``response'' of the Bush administration, there is no question that India and the U.S. are keen on taking bilateral relations to higher levels. At the same time, New Delhi will have to realise that the Bush administration is not inclined to write off Pakistan - Washington has some very serious problems with Islamabad, including democracy and terrorism (via Osama bin Laden), but the hope is that they can be sorted out.

The new U.S. Ambassador to India, Mr. Robert Blackwill, will be sworn in at a function in White House on Tuesday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Next     : China hopes for 'positive' results from summit