Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

US will give India army transport ship

It's a 'defensive' transport ship.

In fact, several Indian analysts view India's security perimeter - its "rightful domain" - as extending from the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Malacca from Africa's east coast to the western shores of Australia.
#msg-9958483

-Am

Saturday, March 04, 2006

* Offers India advanced fighter aircraft
* Bush defends controversial N-pact with India
* Sees US-India partnership transforming world

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: The United States is committed to transfer an amphibious defence transport ship to India early next year as part of the durable defence partnership deal signed after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s talks with President George W Bush on Thursday.

The US Defence Department hailed the new accord aimed at helping meet India’s defence needs. It also cited the US commitment to providing India with modern fighter aircraft.

It said that American firms will compete with contemporary technology in the Indian Air Force’s upcoming tender for multi-role combat aircraft, adding that a US firm is already competing in the Indian Army’s commercial tender for a new lighter helicopter.

The US Defence Department’s statement said that an agreement would be signed in the near future on logistics support. It cites defence trade and technology cooperation as a vital component of the relationship because it helps “build ties among our defence establishments and industries and to develop interoperability among our armed forces”. An American delegation will visit New Delhi soon to discuss US plans related to the recently issued Quadrennial Defence Review on the joint humanitarian action by the Indian and US armed forces.

Meanwhile, the India-US Framework for Maritime Security Cooperation released on March 2 commits the two nations to a “comprehensive cooperation in ensuring a secure maritime domain”. The US also offered to sell India advanced fighter aircraft.

“The US is committed to providing state-of-the-art fighter aircraft in response to India’s requirements for a multi-role combat aircraft,” the Pentagon said. “We have indicated our intention to offer both the F-16 and the F-18, both combat proven aircraft,” it said.

Meanwhile, Bush defended the nuclear agreement with India against criticism from Democrats in the Congress who say the deal rewards New Delhi for bad behaviour, Reuters reported.

AFP adds: Bush said on Friday that a strategic partnership launched with India could transform the world and urged New Delhi to take a lead in spreading freedom and democracy.

The world’s most powerful democracy and its most populous democracy would rally global efforts to push for democracy, fight terrorism and break down trade barriers, Bush said in a keynote address at the end of a three-day visit. “The United States and India, separated by half the globe, are closer than ever before and the partnership between our free nations has the power to transform the world,” he said.

Bush said the Iranian people were held hostage by Islamic clerics who foster terrorism.

“In Iran, a proud people are held hostage by a small clerical elite that denies basic liberties, sponsors terrorism and pursues nuclear weapons,” he said. He urged India to play a world role in a global struggle for freedom.

“India’s leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom. Men and women from North Korea to Burma, to Syria, to Zimbabwe, to Cuba, yearn for their liberty,” he said. “We must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organisations and hasten the day when peoples of these nations can determine their future and choose their own leaders.”

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