Arun Kumar
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ffirming that there is no change in the long-held US policy on Kashmir, a senior Obama administration official has said it is for India-Pakistan to set the pace, scope, and nature of talks over it.
“There’s not been any change in the long-held US policy that with respect to relations between India and Pakistan, and particularly with respect to issues regarding Kashmir,” US assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told foreign reporters Tuesday.“It is for India-Pakistan to set the pace, the scope, and really the nature of those conversations and that process,” she said when asked by a Pakistani correspondent about what the US was doing to help the two countries resolve some of their longstanding disputes, including Kashmir.
The United States, Biswal said “supports any improvements in the overall relationship, and we have seen important overtures by both countries towards dialogue.”
The US, she said welcomed the fact that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif “had a meeting in New York last fall, and we welcome all dialogue and all improvements in that relationship.”
“A good place to start is on the trade front,” Biswal suggested, “because it’s a win-win for both countries.”
“I think cross-border trade right now between India and Pakistan is somewhere in the range of two and a half billion. But both sides have seen the potential for that to grow to 10 billion, easily,” she said.
“And that requires both sides to really come together around these sets of issues. So anything that will encourage cross-border trade will benefit both countries and really will benefit the entire region and will unleash tremendous economic potential,” Biswal said.
“So trade and energy are areas where we think that there is tremendous potential and we’d love to see more progress,” she said.
In response to a question about Afghanistan post US drawdown next year, Biswal said: “What India, Pakistan, and all the countries in the region want more than anything is a stable and secure Afghanistan.”
Noting that the US had a “very close dialogue in cooperation with India with respect to the transition in Afghanistan” she said: “India has played a very important role and continues to play a very important role.”
It “has provided over $2 billion in economic investment, has provided incredible training and infrastructure,” she noted. “And we see that as a positive role that will continue moving forward.”
Asked about Pakistani fears of the aftermath of a “complete and rapid withdrawal of US and its interests from that region,” Biswal said the US engagement to the region “is an enduring one.”
“And we will continue to support the economic development and prosperity of this region. We’re not going away; we’re not going anywhere,” she assured.
‘India-US partnership to grow without pause’
Describing India-US relationship as beyond bilateral a regional and a global relationship, a senior Obama administration official has said their strategic partnership would keep growing without a pause for India’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
“I don’t think that there’s any pause. I think everything is moving forward apace,” US assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told foreign reporters Tuesday.
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh is visiting Washington next week and the two countries have an energy dialogue slated for early next year, noted Biswal when asked about how she saw the partnership evolving after the 2014 elections.
“I think that the relationship will continue to strengthen and deepen and grow, and I think that increasingly it’s not just a bilateral relationship, but it is a regional and a global relationship,” she said.
President Barack Obama, Biswal noted had “most aptly characterized it” as “a partnership and a relationship that is one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century, and that’s because it’s a partnership based on shared values, shared approaches.”
“And we believe that India provides an incredible example of democratic development, and we want to support that example as one that more and more countries ought to follow,” she said.
Biswal also denied that the 2008 landmark India-US civil nuclear deal was in a limbo over India’s tough nuclear liability law though it was not making as “fast and as full” progress as they would like it.
“I think the civ-nuke agreement between the United States and India has been a tremendous and powerful symbol of the relationship,” she said. “And I don’t think it’s in limbo; I think we are making progress,”
But “Is it as fast and as full as we would like it?” Biswal asked and herself answered: “No, I think that there are definitely steps that we think would help move things along.”
The small contract agreement announced during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to USin September “was an important step in the right direction,” she said expressing the “hope that it will continue to pave the way for greater steps.”
“And I think that India has to take its own steps to see what can be done with respect to its liability laws and with respect to the concerns that the private sector has with respect to liability,” Biswal said.
The nature of the relationship between India and US “has so transformed that this (the nuclear deal) is a very important component, but it is one of very many components,” she said.
“We’re pushing ahead on every single front, and we’re working with our Indian colleagues and counterparts on every single front, including civil nuclear cooperation,” she added.
Amazon plans doorstep delivery by drones
If Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has his way, instead of bombs, unmanned drones may soon be delivering from books to medicines to essential supplies at one’s doorstep at the click of a button.
Bezos revealed the giant online store’s plans Sunday for a drone-based delivery service called Prime Air that would bring customers within a 10 mile radius, items weighing up to five pounds only a half-hour after they click the “buy” button.
“I know this looks like science fiction, it’s not,” he said on CBS News’ “60 Minutes”, adding that “It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
But “this is early, this is still years away,” Bezos said. His “optimistic” estimate was that Prime Air will be available to customers within four to five years after more safety testing and approvals from Federal Aviation Administration.
The agency is planning to have its new airspace rules for unmanned aircraft in place by 2015.
Individual items will be flown from one of the company’s 96 massive warehouses, also known as “fulfilment centres”. The craft are autonomous, Bezos said an Amazon employee would enter a delivery recipient’s location and the drone called “octocopters” would fly off to make the delivery.
He says they’ll initially carry items up to five pounds, which is roughly 86 percent of all deliveries Amazon makes.
“In urban areas, you could actually cover very significant portions of the population,” Bezos said. “It won’t work for everything – we’re not going to deliver kayaks or table saws this way. These are electric motors, so this is all electric. It’s very green. It’s better than driving trucks around.” The drones would be autonomous, flying to programmed GPS co-ordinates.
“The hard part here is putting in all the redundancy, all the reliability, all the systems you need to say, ‘Look, this thing can’t land on somebody’s head while they’re walking around their neighbourhood,’” Bezos said adding, “That’s not good.”
Seattle based Amazon last month said it was teaming up with the US Postal Service to begin Sunday delivery.
The writer can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in
