By IANS
New Delhi : The US will be “disappointed” if its nuclear deal with India were to be shelved at this stage and it would also affect New Delhi’s chances of getting a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said.
“India will still be considered important and serious efforts would be made to continue a close relationship. But theoretical desires for close relationships would have to be expressed in concrete measures in some point,” he said in an interview with Karan Thapar, telecast on the CNN-IBN channel Sunday evening, when asked about the US reaction to the possibility of the nuclear deal being dropped.
“And undoubtedly there would be a mixture of disappointment and also whether a question to what extent one can calculate Indian reactions to negotiations that are going on other subjects. I think these two would be the two dominant reactions,” he said.
Asked if there would be voices in the US questioning India’s reliability as a strategic partner in that eventuality, Kissinger said: “There will certainly be people who will make that argument. There are others (who) would say the relationship is very important and we have to carry on.
“But it would certainly, in an intangible way, affect calculations because when an American leader goes down a certain road he stakes his prestige on the ability to get it executed, so in that sense it would be a setback.”
Queried about the impact India’s backing out on the nuclear deal would make on its ambition to be a permanent member of the UN’s Security Council, Kissinger said: “I would anyway favour India joining the Security Council because of the magnitude of the country.
“But it would certainly be one argument that opponents might use in what is any event a complicated issue, because of issues of veto, expansion of Security Council and so forth.”
Batting for the nuclear deal, he said: “I think it would be an important landmark. It would signify India has emerged from its isolation of 30 years, and that in a key field of activity – the nuclear field – it is now re-entering the international community in a cooperative manner. It would signify a role for India on a more global basis than it has performed before.”
The India-US nuclear deal has been facing uncertainties following the opposition from the Leftist parties that support the Manmohan Singh government from outside.