Indo-US N-deal not on back-burner, says Riedel

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jun 6 (PTI) A key aide to President Barack
Obama has dismissed reports that the new US Administration has
kept the nuclear deal with India on the back-burner.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official who co-chaired an
inter-agency committee which formulated Obama's Af-Pak policy,
also did not see Robert Einhorn's recent appointment as
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's special adviser on
non-proliferation issues as an impediment in implementation of
the nuclear deal, signed during the Bush era.

"Senator Obama voted for the US-India civil nuclear deal
last fall and he has made clear that he wants to see it
implemented. At the same time, President Obama has also made
it clear that arms control and non-proliferation are back on
the American agenda," Riedel told PTI in an interview.

On the appointment of Einhorn which has caused a flutter
in India because of his strong views against the Indo-US
nuclear deal, Riedel said: "Einhorn is a very qualified
American diplomat and an expert on nuclear issues."

"I think, you would see, early on in this Administration
the attempt to get the United States Senate to ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and I think you would see in
time that the United States would once again be urging all
countries around the world to sign onto CTBT," he said.

Advocating the need for India and Pakistan to sign CTBT,
Riedel said that it was now time to support an international
ban on all nuclear testing.

"I favour both India and Pakistan, signing onto the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. India and Pakistan do not need
to test their nuclear weapons. They have done that already. It
is now time to support an international ban on all nuclear
testing," he said.

He expressed the hope that India would take another look
at this and recognise that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
is in India's national security interest. PTI LKJ
AM
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