Nuke deal standoff resonates in US

Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen is not the only casualty of the opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Indian Parliament.

The ramifications of the political impasse in New Delhi are being felt amongst experts and think tanks in Washington DC too.

In fact, in the US, even those international relations experts who have been the most fervent proponents of the deal have had no option but to agree with Sen's remark that if the nuclear deal unravels because of opposition in New Delhi, India will have ''zero credibility.''

''The fact that there has been such controversy over it and that the government is even considering slowing things down inevitably leads people to wonder whether India is a country that cannot take yes for an answer.''

''I think it is more than credibility. Obviously, any time a government agrees to something and cannot deliver that something, obviously its credibility is questioned. This would be as true for the United States as it is for India.''

''But what I am really talking about is whether India as a political society is willing to take the kinds of decisions needed to be a big player on the international scene,'' said Teresita Schaffer, Director, South Asia Program, CSIS.

Moreover, the standoff in Delhi has also strengthened the stand of critics of the deal in the US policy community.

''I think the biggest impediment to this deal from day one was Indian domestic politics. If an agreement is not consensual, if an agreement this important is not consensual, then it is not a good idea.''

''This was a mistake for the government of India and the previous government of India - whose leaders now object to the deal. It was a mistake for them to make this a litmus test for their relationship, and it was a mistake for the Bush administration to sign up to it,'' said Michael Krepon, Co-founder, Henry Stimson Center.

The nuclear deal is possibly the most ambitious chapter in India and the US's diplomatic history.

It has been hailed as the cornerstone of a new strategic partnership between the once estranged democracies.

Nearing the end of its term, the Bush administration does not have very much foreign policy success to point to and was hoping that the nuclear deal could be one.

Instead, the political developments in Delhi could mean that what was expected to be a policy success for the Bush administration now runs the risk of being another policy embarrassment.