It's now or never for nuclear deal: Mulford

HARD TALK: David Mulford said it is unlikely that this deal will be offered again.

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New Delhi: Breaking over 18 months of self-imposed silence, US Ambassador David Mulford has said that it was almost ‘now or never’ for India to get such a deal as non-proliferation groups may force additional conditionalities in it.

Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN on Devil’s Advocate Mulford said that if this is not processed in the present Congress it is unlikely that this deal will be offered again to India.

He added that if the deal were to be revived, it would have to go through the US Congress Committee process "and I think the non-proliferation groups would insist on changes in many of the terms or additional conditions."

Noting that the ‘atmosphere is changing’, Mulford said, “I believe and I know both Republicans and Democrats believe in the United States this is the time to finish this deal."

Asked if he was saying it is "now or may be never" for the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Mulford said "That's pretty close to it."

Americans are puzzled that this agreement was not immediately embraced and activated by India”. Whilst maintaining that India’s refusal to conclude the deal won’t damage the wider Indo-US relationship, Ambassador Mulford pointedly added, “I think there has to be some concern about elements of trust and discretion at the core of that relationship”.

In the wide ranging interview, which covered various aspects of the Indo-US nuclear deal comprehensively, the American Ambassador was asked what would happen if the Indo-US nuclear deal (i.e. the 123 Agreement) was not processed and ratified by the present US Congress.

In his answer he made it clear that this is a now or never situation, explicitly stating that the same deal would not be offered to India 2 or 3 years down the road.

Mulford also said, “The nuclear agreement is India’s passport to the world. That is exactly correct.”

The American Ambassador also made it clear that there was no agreement or undertaking that if the 123 Agreement goes through India will make purchases or acquire technology from America:

“There is no agreement or undertaking that they (India) have to do their business with the US. It’s a competitive market and my belief is that, if this (the 123 Agreement) goes through, India will become the centre of a civil nuclear industry in the world.”

Asked how Americans viewed the present debate in India over the nuclear deal, the Ambassador replied: “In one word puzzlement”.

Mulford first pointed out that the Bush administration and Congress had changed the country’s 1954 Atomic Energy Act to accommodate India and this was the first time such a change had been made.

He said this made the deal ‘an initiative of historic importance’. He also referred to the strong bipartisan support in Congress for the deal despite “deep, bitter, partisan divides in American politics”.

The Ambassador then added, “I think Americans are puzzled that this agreement was not immediately embraced and activated by India.”

When asked if India’s refusal to go ahead with the deal would damage the wider Indo-US relationship, the Ambassador first said he didn’t think so but then pointedly added that it would affect “elements of trust and discretion.”

“I don’t think it will damage that relationship … (but) I do think that at the heart of the official bilateral relationship, where in the last years there has been a real effort to overcome some of the distrust, suspicions and misunderstandings, and the civil nuclear deal was supposed to be the vehicle that would lay those things to rest forever,” he said.

“I think there has to be some concern about elements of trust and discretion at the core of that relationship. Not insurmountable but I think it won’t quite remove some of those problems that we’ve both, both countries, have been working to overcome.”

Catch the exclusive interview with David Mulford on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate on Sunday 8:30 pm.