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Indo-US ties on fast track: Blackwill

United States Ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill says that relations between India and the US have been transformed, in practical ways, at a pace far faster than both countries had imagined.

In informal interaction with a small gathering of mediapersons, Blackwill said that the real change after the terrorist strikes of September 11 was in the frequency, intensity and transparency with which both the countries shared intelligence and cooperated with each other.

Both the US and India were trying to pool intelligence in a time-sensitive fashion to combat terrorism, and had now begun to work together in ways previously unimaginable, the ambassador said.

Blackwill argued that though there was an opportunity for India and the US to redefine relationships after the Cold War ended, neither country had seized the chance, perhaps because of the Cold War's overhang.

In the new era however, Blackwill suggested, democratic values would be the foundation of the international system. And against that background, India and US could differ in terms of strategy and tactics, but never in terms of the overall objective, Blackwill said.

Blackwill said that Washington was determined to treat South Asia in a non-hyphenated way. “We are treating the US-India relationship as separate from any other relationship. It is not connected to the events happening in Pakistan, or with what is now happening between India and Pakistan,” he averred.

“We have established a degree of unprecedented cooperation with India in our fight against terrorism. We have also got an assurance from Pakistan to join in this fight, and we are gratified that Pakistan has joined the fight,” he said.

Asked whether the US equated terrorism in Kashmir with what had happened in New York and with global terrorism, Blackwill said there was no such thing as good terrorists and bad terrorists. All attacks, anywhere, on innocent people had to be fought, he said, adding, “The extraordinary coalition that is forming now to fight terrorism is a proof of that. It is not a problem that can be stamped out in a piecemeal way, terrorism has to be addressed everywhere.”

To a question whether terrorist organisations now operating in Kashmir would be included in Washington's hit list, Blackwill said that the list released by the US Administration this Tuesday was not a final one, and would evolve.

Referring to the lifting of sanctions, Blackwill said that in this he saw the possibility of cooperation not merely in the military realm, but also in areas like education and good governance. "There is room for an intense, and deeper, relationship evolving," Blackwill felt.

Asked whether the Bush Administration now holding hands with Pakistan did not contradict the US stand on democracy, Blackwill said that his country's stance as regards Pakistan's early return to democracy remained unchanged.

However, the ambassador said, Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf was taking care of stability in Pakistan at this point in time, and the US has been encouraged by what he has said and done recently.

Referring to the prevailing angst in Indian government circles that the US had not approached India for help in its war against terrorism, Blackwill said the US was still in the process of thinking through the new war. "The key objective now is to end the terrorism network in Afghanistan and end the export of terrorism from Afghanistan," he said. Thus, the US is for now concentrating on this phase, but there will be dozens of new phases to a war that is likely to go on for years, there will be thousands of actions across the world, he pointed out.

“There is very intense intelligence cooperation now between Moscow and Washington, and no one could have thought of it a couple of months ago," Blackwill argued. "We are building paradigms of collaborative behavior that will have far wider applications in the future. The India-US relationship will now emerge to meet international challenges, as both the countries are committed to fight terrorism,” he said.

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