INDO-US 2 LAST

Describing the deal as a most high-profile manifestation
of the fundamental change in US perception about India's
position in the global security architecture, Sen said it was
also an 'audacious and unprecedented' initiative of the
US to single out India for exemption from a major
international regime in force for over three decades.

"It was an extraordinary one-time exemption for an
international non-proliferation regime, set up and made
progressively restrictive by successive Democratic and
Republican presidents. It ended in India's global isolation
from the nuclear cooperation and commerce.

"At the same time, the US led the world to acknowledge
and accept India's possession of nuclear weapons without
formally recognising it as a Nuclear Weapons State under the
NPT. The agreement was preceded by the US-led initiative to
get a clean waiver from the 45-member NSG giving a fresh
impetus to a steady process of loosening of restrictions on
the supply of dual-use high technology to India," Sen said.

Pointing out that the US position on India progressively
evolved in a positive direction during the two terms of George
W Bush, he said, "Pakistan is no longer seen as a problem
between India and the US, but as a common problem for both
countries especially, but not exclusively, in the context of
global terrorism." (More) PTI SBR
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