Chicago Tribune

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – President Bush returns from a four-day tour of Asia confident of presiding over a “transformation” in U.S. relations with India as well as a secure alliance with neighboring nations committed to combating terrorism in a volatile region.

While Bush has scored a diplomatic success with his agreement to support India’s nuclear power program in exchange for an Indian commitment to place its civilian reactors under international supervision, the president still faces a political challenge at home in persuading Congress to approve the deal.

As Bush returns from two high-risk visits to nations battling terrorists and local insurgencies – Afghanistan on Wednesday and Pakistan on Saturday – the extraordinary security measures taken during both of these stops demonstrate how dangerous this region remains.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in defeating al-Qaida,” Bush said Saturday at a news conference standing alongside Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. “While we do have a lot of work to be done, it’s important that we stay on the hunt” for terrorists, “some of whom are lodged here in Pakistan.”

With the Pakistani capital in a virtual lockdown Saturday – Bush’s after-dark arrival the night before was guarded by 5,000 security forces along his route from Chaklali Air Base to the fortified U.S. Embassy – the president counted on his meeting with Musharraf to demonstrate a shared commitment to hunting down terrorists.

This was the first time that a U.S. president had visited India and Pakistan since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Bush confronted questions in Afghanistan about why, after four years, the mastermind of those attacks, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, remains at large. Bush maintains that alliances with leaders such as Musharraf eventually will bring the capture of bin Laden.

Bush and Musharraf met for talks at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the presidential residence. Bush also took in a cricket match at the U.S. Embassy and a state dinner before returning to Washington early Sunday.

But it was Bush’s meeting with the Indian prime minister Thursday, capping eight months of negotiations, that cemented the most significant outcome of his trip.

India, which never signed the international nuclear nonproliferation treaty, has agreed to place most of its civilian reactors under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency and to permanently place future civilian reactors under the U.N. agency’s supervision. The agreement enables India to keep two reactors that supply its nuclear weapons within its closed military program and to build new weapons-supporting reactors.

Before the United States can share nuclear technology with India, the Bush administration must persuade Congress to revise American law, which prohibits such cooperation with nations outside the nuclear nonproliferation treaty that have tested weapons – as India has, as recently as 1998.

Bush will attempt to make the case that India’s willingness to cooperate with international monitors represents a good-faith effort toward the containment of nuclear weapons that nations such as Pakistan, Iran and North Korea have not shown.

The Bush administration also has achieved a diplomatic success in addressing the balance of nuclear power – encouraging, in India, a counterbalance to China’s increasing influence.

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Critics contend that the Bush administration is essentially rewarding India’s bad behavior with nuclear weaponry and sending the wrong signal to nations such as Iran and North Korea, which are intent on flouting international regulations by developing nuclear arms.

“India appears to have fully achieved all its negotiating objectives: importing uranium and nuclear technology, gaining recognition as a nuclear weapon state and preserving full freedom to expand its nuclear weapons capability as it sees fit,” said Robert Einhorn, senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and an expert in the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The deal also has critics in Congress, but some suggest that Bush will be able to win approval once details are presented to congressional leaders inclined to support India. The U.S. nuclear industry, stymied by a lack of construction of new reactors in the United States since the 1970s, also is lobbying Congress with an eye on a huge new market.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., acknowledged concerns about the deal among lawmakers but said he believes Congress will back the agreement.

“I am encouraged by the fact that this agreement will, for the first time, require a majority of India’s nuclear reactors to be placed under international safeguards,” Frist said. “I will continue to support a strong strategic partnership between the United States and India, especially when it promises to promote democracy, stability and prosperity in the region.”

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(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

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AP-NY-03-04-06 1720EST

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