U.S. to help India become 'Major World Power'
By agencies   |   Friday, 01 April 2005, 20:30 IST
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WASHINGTON:Helping India become "a major world power" in the 21st century is now official United States government policy, crosswalks.com has reported. The move is "an exciting turning point to years of hard work to transform the U.S.-India bilateral relationship into a true strategic partnership," Ambassador David Mulford said Thursday in an article released by the embassy. His comments come amid a debate in India about the implications of the U.S. announcement last week that it was ready to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, India's longstanding rival. The decision reverses a U.S. policy - long supported by India - which was put in place in 1990 in response to Islamabad's nuclear weapons development. Although the U.S. said simultaneously last week that it was also willing to sell India both F-16s and supersonic F-18 Hornets -- as well as technology to build the planes under license - New Delhi responded with disappointment about the Pakistan decision. The first public enunciation of the new policy regarding India came at a Good Friday background press briefing by unidentified senior administration officials, one of whom said the "goal is to help India become a major world power in the 21st century." Mulford said Rice outlined three concrete steps to achieve the objective of "making India the global power it can and should be." High-level strategic dialogue would address global and regional security problems and challenges as well as India's defense requirements; energy dialogue would deal with ways the U.S. can help India meets its growing energy demands, including civil nuclear energy cooperation; and economic dialogue would seek to expand commerce and ensure freer trade between the two nations. "The U.S. and India are poised for a partnership that will be crucial in shaping the international order in the 21st century," the envoy said.

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