Having forged civil nuclear ties, counter-terror and defence cooperation were the next areas of focus in Indo-US relations, a senior State Department official has said.
"Counter-terrorism cooperation and defence cooperation are the next horizons for this relation. We put that thought forward on Thursday and we will like to work with the Indian government on that basis," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said.
"We certainly feel in Washington that there is a lot more that our two countries can do to cooperate together in intelligence and national basis to be successful together," Burns added.
The Bush administration is making it known that having 'successfully fought a good fight in the US to convince the Congress and the American people that we ought to break free from our conventions on civil nuclear cooperation to go forward," the next horizon in bilateral ties will be dominated by these two issues.
While Washington is keen on pursuing the terrorism cooperation agenda with India, it is also aware of the fact that India is a victim of terrorism in its own region, Burns said.
"First, the US and India join together both in South Asia and beyond to be partners in the fight against terrorist groups wherever they are," he said.
Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, who attended the programme at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace in Washington with Burns, said that on the subject of terrorism one will have to deal with both the supply and the demand sides.
"We have to deal with the causes of terrorism, do it through intelligence cooperation, do it through knowing the enemy, seeing how we can make it hard for the terrorists to survive to do what they are doing," Menon said.
"We are both victims but we are also capable of dealing with this. We are going to deal with this issue. There is no way we can avoid this. We had a terrible incidence just this last week in India. That kind of things only renews our determination to fight it and not to succumb to it," he said.
"That is an area where there is potential to increase cooperation and do a lot more together," the foreign secretary remarked.
Menon has been in Washington for the last three days primarily to attend the Fifth Meeting of the High Technology Cooperation Group.
He had extensive discussions at the State Department with senior administration functionaries, including Burns on a range of issues including the civilian nuclear initiative, regional and global issues and terrorism.
Whether they are global terrorist organisations or regionally-based, both United States and India 'are victims and unfortunately potential victims of terrorism,' Burns observed.
Burns said from an American perspective, 'India and America have a common interest to thwart terrorism in our own regions and globally.'
"Where we have done well with Japan and some of the Asian countries or EU is intelligence cooperation, we have law enforcement cooperation, we have been able to use economic assistance to dry up the ability of terrorists to launder money through our financial institution; we have diplomatic cooperation to keep terror as a leading issue whether it is bilateral, regional or global," Burns said.
"If India and the United States can do that and if we can do it in a way that meets the interests of both the countries, we will succeed. Those are the four areas outside of military action that are going to be at the heart of the effort.
"Military action will be sporadic. It is not usually the way to fight terrorism. We see India as a victim of terrorism in its own region," Burns remarked.
On defence cooperation, Burns talked about the recently-completed Bangalore Air Show and the high profile visit of an American defence delegation.
"The next frontier will also be in military relations. The former Defence Secretary Bill Cohen and former Under Secretary of State Tom Pickering were both in India for the Bangalore Air Show.
"We had the largest-ever American industry presence we have put our best foot forward to show that whether it is on a technology basis, whether it is on a doctrinal basis in terms of strategic dialogue, increased exercises and training," Burns said.
