By IANS,
New Delhi : ”It’s (the NSG waiver for India) the biggest diplomatic effort I have witnessed in my experience since the 1980s,” said US ambassador to India David Mulford, a key interlocutor of the Bush team who led the charge for the India-US nuclear deal in New Delhi.
He was recalling intense diplomacy spread out over the last two-and-half years, including the last-minute telephone calls by senior officials in the Bush team, that culminated in the Sep 6 waiver by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to resume global nuclear trade with India.
“These efforts go back a long time. We have been in dialogue with NSG countries over the last two-and-a-half years,” a beaming Mulford, who has played a starring role in bringing the nuclear deal to the stage where it is now, barely a step away from Congressional approval.
“President (George Bush), Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and senior officials of the US administration were hugely active in this process,” he said in his first interaction with media after the landmark NSG waiver on September 6.
“They were in contact with leaders around the world. The issue was discussed in the G-8 meeting in Japan,” he recalled. “The consensus among 45 nations was extraordinary,” the envoy said with a deep sense of satisfaction at the job well done. “This is a major, major accomplishment for India, for the US and for India-US relationship,” he said.
Alluding to speculation in the Indian newspapers that the US was being half-hearted in pushing for NSG waiver after the Aug 20-21 meeting of the NSG in Vienna ended inconclusively, Mulford said with a smile: “It’s clear these reports saying the US was not doing enough were totally false.”
Being a quintessential diplomat, Mulford replied tactfully when asked about reports of China’s attempt to block consensus in the NSG which has caused much heartburns in New Delhi. “China did the right thing in the end,” was all he would say. He also kept quiet when asked about the reported phone call from Bush to Chinese President Hu Jintao that is said to have swung China around at the last minute to back the deal.
The envoy insisted that India has got a “clean waiver” from the NSG, but chose not to dwell on the details of the waiver and whether they conformed to India’s demands.
Mulford’s tenure in Roosevelt House has literally seen the passage of the deal through its defining phases starting from July 18, 2005 initiative to Hyde Act, 123 pact, NSG waiver, and, hopefully Congressional approval later this month. Mulford returns to Washington after the end of his eventful stay in India later this year.
Upbeat about “positive knock-out effects” of the nuclear deal on the India-US relationship, he underlined the deal will not only end India’s nuclear isolation but also help India in “becoming an increasingly important world power.”