Foreign secretary to discuss N-deal, Iran with US

In his first official foray to Washington, DC as India's foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, besides providing senior US officials with an update as to where India stands on the bilateral civilian nuclear cooperative agreement -- also known as the 123 Agreement that has remained stalled since last December -- will also brief the Bush administration on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Iran, particularly regarding the discussions over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

Administration and diplomatic sources also acknowledged that the terrorism issue that was also on the agenda, will now garner an even higher priority in the wake of the Samjhauta Express train bombing, with the US pledging to provide even stronger support for India's efforts to combat the continuing terrorist threat it faces, from what US intelligence sources now believe are cross-border terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that have now been infiltrated by the Al Qaeda and are part of the latter's network against those countries allied with the US in its global war on terror.

Rediff.com has learned that Menon, who will have a marathon session with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns -- the chief US negotiator of the nuclear deal on Wednesday, is also likely meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley in the White House.

Menon, in addition to the discussions on the nuclear deal and the train bombings apparently aimed at derailing the India-Pakistan peace process, will provide a comprehensive briefing on Mukherjee's discussions in Tehran -- meetings he was in on -- as this would be "one of the major priorities of the agenda."

On February 22 and 23, he will co-chair the bilateral High Technology Cooperation Group with Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Sampson. These meetings had earlier been co-chaired by his predecessor Shyam Saran -- now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy to the US-India nuclear deal -- with Under Secretary of Commerce Dave McCormack, and earlier with Under Secretary Ken Juster.

Menon will also appear along with Commerce Secretary Carol Gutierrez -- fresh from his trip to New Delhi -- at the US Chamber of Commerce in an event sponsored by the US-India Business Council on February 22 and later in the afternoon, will engage in a conversation with Burns at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on 'The United States, India and the World', moderated by CEIP's senior associate Ashley Tellis.

Tellis said that "through a dialogue, Foreign Secretary Menon and Under Secretary Burns will share their perspectives on how India and the United States view their interests in the emerging international system and how both countries are working towards the construction of a global partnership in a variety of functional and regional areas that include India's immediate and extended neighborhood."

On February 23, Menon is slated to have an interaction with the Indian press based in Washington and review his meetings, including his interactions with Burns and other senior US officials and also the HTCG meeting.

Menon assumed charge as India's foreign secretary on October 1, 2006. He had previously served as India's ambassador to Israel, high commissioner in Sri Lanka, ambassador in China, and high commissioner in Pakistan.

During this first official trip of his to Washington, he will however not meet with any US lawmakers since the Congress will be on recess.

Saran too during his trip earlier this month, did not travel up on Capitol Hill, since both the Democratic and Republican lawmakers were on their respective retreats.

Observers said this was unfortunate, because many lawmakers who were the driving forces behind the enabling legislation to facilitate the US-India civilian nuclear deal enacted by President Bush in December, have expressed concerns over the stalled 123 Agreement, which was expected to be a formality but now seems to be bogged down in New Delhi.

Earlier, Burns had told rediff.com that this was just a mere formality and only some technical details needed to be hammered out.

But when Saran visited Washington he came empty-handed with neither a response to Washington's draft nor did he bring an Indian draft and consequently, let alone completing the 123 Agreement, both sides have yet to kick off their negotiations.

Although Menon is visiting Washington basically to co-chair the HTCG meeting and his discussions with Burns, sources said, he "will cover the entire gamut of India-US relations and will take stock of how both countries will move ahead in 2007," but acknowledged there is apparently no getting away from the nuclear deal, especially the 123 Agreement question and Washington's growing concerns over India-Iran relations.

While much of 2006 was permeated over getting the nuclear legislation through Congress, and Menon's visit will try to endeavor to move beyond this deal and in his meetings with Burns and other senior US officials "chalk out how both countries can move ahead on the entire relationship in 2007 and 2008," defending New Delhi relations with Tehran was unavoidable.

The argument that India is expected to make is that New Delhi's warm relations with Tehran could be a future bridge for future US rapprochement with Iran.

Diplomatic observers pointed out that "at least India has a channel of communication," and noted that Mukherjee met not only with his diplomatic vis-à-vis, "but with President (Mahmoud) Ahmedinejad, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Larijani and hence New Delhi "has this channel of communication where it is communicating its viewpoints with the main players, including opposition leaders like Rafsanjani."

On the controversial Iranian nuclear programme, rediff.com was informed that Mukherjee and Menon, who accompanied the minister to Tehran, had "stressed that while India could understand Iran's compulsions to pursue a nuclear programme for civilian energy purposes, it could not condone a nuclear weapons development programme."

India has cautioned Iran to "stay away from the development of nuclear weapons," and noted that it was not just the US that has concerns, but the entire international community, particularly since the International Atomic Energy Agency believe that Iran is enriching weapons-grade uranium.

Thus, a discussion of India's relations with Iran, and also New Delhi's perspective on the war in Iraq, is expected to figure high up on the agenda of Menon's discussions with the Bush administration.