Indo-US nuclear deal deadlock to end soon, says Kissinger

The deadlock surrounding the Indo-US nuclear deal due to the differences over the 123 agreement would be resolved within a few months, Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state said. "Both India and the US have parallel interests and I see no reason why the nuke deal should fall through," he said. Kissinger was speaking on the occasion of a session on Asian Century 'Where Will India Be?', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city.

Today, he called on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and had a closed-door meeting with him which lasted for nearly 50 minutes.

Apart from the chief minister, Kissinger was scheduled to meet the industry captains of the state. Kissinger was upbeat on the growth of trade ties between West Bengal and the US and felt that the state, with a population of about 60 million and a communist government, was committed to investment.

Apart from Kissinger, some other US bigwigs like US treasury secretary Henry M Paulson, US ambassador to India David Mulford and Dick Parsons, the chairman and chief executive officer of Time Warner were also on a visit to the city, last week.

Kissinger also felt that all countries need to recast their foreign policies keeping in mind the future of society as well as the changing dynamics of the world which has witnessed new problems to be tackled on a global basis.

"For the first time, the world has encountered problems related to energy and environment which have to be overcome on a collective basis. Also, today we are living in a world which has seen the balance of power shifting to different regions," he added.

He said India was on the path of rapid economic growth and was willing to play a greater role in international affairs.

Talking on China, he said: "China's growing economic and political clout will impact the countries in the Asian region. The country has achieved a spectacular growth but it needs to integrate itself with an international system."

Kissinger lashed out at radical Islamism which he felt was threatening to topple existing systems of administration and governance.

"The US is not against Islam as a religion or an institution. What we object to is the designs of the radical Islams which threaten to destabilise the existing systems. The events happening in the West Asia do have an impact on the potentially radical Islamic population in countries like Indonesia," he said.

Kissinger backed the US intervention in Iraq but admitted that the US did commit some mistakes in imposition of the new regime.