Energizing India

From IBD:

Posted 3/3/2006
Diplomacy: The U.S.-India nuclear deal concluded late last week by President Bush has taken a lot of criticism, most of it pretty predictable. But from where we sit, the agreement looks like a wise — and overdue — move.

Bush, meeting with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, agreed to a nuclear deal that will officially separate India's military and commercial efforts, maintain its moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons, and help provide India with the technology it needs to develop its nuclear power industry.

Under the deal, 14 of India's 22 nuclear reactors will be designated as "civilian," meaning they'll be subject to international inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time.

This accord will likely be underplayed by the mainstream media. It shouldn't be. As others also have suggested, it just might turn out to be one of the most important bilateral agreements the U.S. will sign in the 21st century. It's that important.

Helping India — the world's second largest country, its biggest democracy and easily its most diverse nation — is about more than just fueling its already spectacular economic growth through nuclear power. It's also about forging a successful working model in a region known for instability and lack of democracy.

And make no mistake, India is a great model.

It's increasingly pro-American. It's opening its economy to foreign trade and investment. It's done a good job knitting its disparate peoples — major faiths include Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and Christian, while India's inhabitants speak 15 different major languages, along with English — into one.

Bush knows all this. More important from a U.S. standpoint, he knows that India, with its billion people and military might, can serve as a regional counterweight to China — which likes to throw its strategic weight around, whether in Tibet or Taiwan.

To some, the deal Bush struck with India essentially gives India entry into the official nuclear club — comprised of the U.S., Russia, France, Britain and China. The critics argue that sends the wrong signal to aspiring nuclear nations like Iran and North Korea.

But such criticism is insulting — to the U.S. and to India. India is not Iran, which in recent weeks has taken the first step to making a nuclear weapon while threatening to annihilate a neighboring country; nor is it North Korea, which flouts international law and world standards of human decency with such severity that calling it a "rogue" understates the regime's true evil.

Yes, India has nuclear weapons — perhaps as many as 200. But it didn't get them from us. Nor are we going to help India build more; that's not what this deal is about. In fact, this will get the country's nuclear program more scrutiny than ever.

Neighboring Pakistan no doubt won't like this. But it has been at best a sometime ally in the war on terror and seems to have little commitment to democracy. Frankly, it's not in India's league.

And Congress might have to be sold. After all, U.S. law prohibits us from sharing nuclear technology with nations that have nukes or that haven't signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

We hope Congress understands the strategic stakes and makes India an exception. This deal will help cement U.S.-Indian ties for decades to come, and give us a friend in a region where we badly need one.