Delay in N-deal makes US officials see red

United States officials involved in negotiating the nuclear deal with India are getting increasingly frustrated over what they perceive as India's delay in concluding the bilateral civilian nuclear cooperative accord, better known as the 123 Agreement.

According to US administration sources, India is particularly interested in modifying provisions pertaining to conditional access to fuel reprocessing and caveats about future nuclear tests.

R Nicholas Burns, the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and the chief US negotiator of the bilateral civilian nuclear agreement, was told by the US negotiating team led by Richard Stratford, director of nuclear energy, safety and security at the State Department, that New Delhi had refused to compromise on any issue of concern.

The usually unflappable Burns expressed frustration with New Delhi for continuing to balk on completing the 123 Agreement that is essential for US Congress to review before it ultimately votes on the enabling legislation to consummate the deal.

"Frankly, we negotiated two very good agreements — in July 2005 and March 2006 — with the Indian government. Now it's time for India to expedite the 123 talks as well as expedite talks with the IAEA towards safeguards agreement," Burns said.

Burns and other senior US officials had hoped that the negotiations over the 123 Agreement in New Delhi last month would have resolved any pending issues so it could be sent up to US Congress for review, after which the George Bush administration hoped to bat for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group plenary meeting in Cape Town, South Africa on April 16.

But, the officials say, India played hardball at the negotiations, with New Delhi expressing concern over certain provisions of the enabling legislation approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W Bush in December.

Because of this, "the list of differences between the two sides" seemed to be getting longer, these sources complained. And

Burns told reporters recently that while some progress had been made, the administration did not think it was enough.

He was not alone. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher also similar views after visiting New Delhi in the first week of April as an observer to the SAARC summit. Lamenting the slowing down of pace, he said it was India's responsibility to get it going again.

"The US is really carrying through all its commitments and is ready to conclude an agreement on the basis that the President and prime minister agreed upon. At this point, the ball is in India's court," Boucher had told this correspondent in an interview.

The US Commerce and Energy secretaries, Carlos Gutierrez and Samuel Bodman respectively, who had visited India recently, also called on New Delhi to complete the 123 Agreement.

Sources said the US negotiators had done all of the negotiating they could, "and they do not have any more negotiating room."

"I mean, they are being asked by the Indian side to compromise on items they simply can't compromise on because US law requires them to insist that the 123 Agreement be constructed in a certain way," a source told rediff.com. "There is not just an unwillingness, but no legal negotiating room on the American side."

There is also speculation that at least some of India's stalling could very well be for domestic consumption. "There are elections coming up in a couple of states. Some of this may be connected to these elections, with the government trying to show that it is tough and not willing to give in to the US," the source said.

Another source was very clear: "We have negotiated to the extent that we can and now we are going to hold firm because we simply don't have anymore negotiating room."

"We hope the Indian side realises this and deals with us on our terms or there's no deal. And I hope they realize that quickly and adjust to negotiating positions than scuttle the whole thing."

The source acknowledged that since the 123 Agreement is in limbo and India not having concluded a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the whole process is stalled.

The source also noted, "There won't be anything until the 123 Agreement is signed, sealed and delivered and the IAEA [safeguards] agreement is finalized and presented to the board of governors and at this stage it seems as it's going to be many months from now."

Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen, who argued for the deal during his trip to New Delhi last month, is said to have met with all the key players both in government and the scientific establishment and implored them to not let the deal flounder.

Sen, whose extension of a year of his original two-year tenure ends in August, clearly wants the deal consummated on his watch, and is increasingly concerned that this will not happen if the powers-that-be in New Delhi keep stalling.