A broader engagement

The information that has been dribbling out suggests that the critical driver of the Indo-US nuclear deal has been none other than President Bush. He sent his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to India in March last year with the unintentionally patronising message that the US wanted to "make" India a world power. He then introduced the subject of civilian nuclear co-operation into the bilateral dialogue in May, leading to the surprise July announcement in Washington. And it was he who encouraged his officials to make the concessions in New Delhi that have helped prepare the ground for going to the US Congress with proposals to re-write American laws.

Coupled with the other initiatives on co-operation in a range of economic, commercial, agricultural and technical fields, the larger message is that the US now sees India in a new light. When Mr Vajpayee first argued six years ago that India and the US were "natural allies", it seemed a somewhat far-fetched formulation. Today it is the Americans who use the phrase without it sounding phoney. Indeed, if Congress does approve the deal despite all the protestations from the nuclear establishment in Washington, the reason will be that India now looms larger on the American screen as a long-term friend. In other words, the nuclear deal is only one part of a much broader engagement, and Manmohan Singh understands the significance of that very well.

One manifestation of this is Mr Bush's unambiguous statement in Islamabad that India and Pakistan are "different countries, with different histories and different needs". The context of that statement was energy and nuclear co-operation, but it points to a more substantial change, in that the US has finally stopped equating India and Pakistan. India is the larger market, and Mr Bush understands the importance of that for US firms. India also carries more weight in an Asia that otherwise could be dominated by China, it is a stabilising presence in a troubled region, and it is of course a democracy with internal balance. So, while India's diplomats and nuclear negotiators need to be credited for having hammered out a good deal, the fact is that what has really worked in India's favour are the country's larger, systemic qualities""which have manifested themselves, for instance, in its responsible conduct when it comes to nuclear proliferation. The difference with a country like Pakistan is very real indeed.

From the US perspective, India has shifted ground in that its official establishment has given up its old pro-Soviet, anti-American biases, and opened up its market. From the Indian perspective, the US is only now seeing and recognising Indian virtues that were always on display for those who chose not to be blind. The Indian economy's flattering growth rate, the country's emergence in the popular imagination as a land of brainy "techies" and the rising profile of Indians resident in the US, have all played their part, too. And since none of this is a flash in the pan, the new engagement between the two countries has solid foundations. Which is not to say that everything will be smooth going from now on. Closer engagement could in fact provoke friction in some areas (multilateral trade talks are an obvious example), and there will be the occasional disappointment when the two countries have to disagree""as they do on Iraq. Hopefully, both countries will have the maturity to deal with those situations as the bilateral engagement gets raised to a new level.