India watching as US pins hopes

NEW DELHI: While India is watching the "developing circumstances" with regard to Iraq, the United States is trying desperately to reopen windows for cooperation to internationalise the daunting task of rebuilding the war-torn country, particularly in the light of rising anti-Americanism in parts of the besieged nation.
The Bush administration, according to official sources, has not lost hopes on India and is still striving to persuade New Delhi to send its troops.The two countries will discuss the issue at the Indo-US joint working groups on peacekeeping which is tentatively scheduled to meet in Washington on August 4.
The US is also trying to woo India by expediting the sale of defence nuclear, biological and chemical equipment, special forces gear and P3 Orion Maritime Patrol aircraft under the growing defence cooperation apart from other items in New Delhi''s wish list.
But India, which had decided not to send troops to Iraq under the American and British command, had said that if there is an explicit UN mandate, New Delhi would consider the deployment of its troops in the war-torn country.
As Iraqi expectations and frustrations are on the rise, Washington appears more keen that a UN Security Council mandate be created, enabling the likes of France, India and Muslim countries to contribute peacekeepers and thereby possibly reduce the attrition rate against the coalition troops.
Reports quoting Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated that Washington had started talks with other governments on possible new UN action to entice countries like India to help stabilise Iraq.
However, New Delhi is playing a watching game at the evolving developments in the UN Security Council.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reportedly said that the Council might issue an appeal to nations to send their troops to Iraq, to which India did have any "specific comment".
Pointing out that India was not a member of the Security Council, an external affairs ministry spokesman said these were "evolving developments" which New Delhi was "watching".
According to the government, several statements made by the US had made it clear they understood the difficulties involved in India sending its troops to Iraq.
But US President George Bush, who is asking himself the question why a successfully concluded low casualty war is continuing to cause such serious personal and political damage, has been advised by an expert team that if Iraqis do not see progress on delivering security, basic services, political involvement and economic activity, the security situation will likely worsen and US efforts and credibility will falter.
The team urged Washington to "quickly mobilize and broaden a new reconstruction coalition that includes countries and organizations beyond the original war fighting coalition".
A first Independent Review of Iraq Reconstruction, requested by the Pentagon, emphasized that the coalition must be broadly expanded to include countries and institutions that were not part of the war coalition because financial and human resource needs cannot be met by the US coalition alone.
"The enormity of the task ahead cannot be underestimated...It requires that the entire effort be immediately turbo-charged--by making it more agile and flexible, and providing it with greater funding and personnel," said the team of experts.
The US military, despite the presence of 148,000 troops in Iraq, is not visible enough at the street level, particularly in Baghdad, and must reassess its force composition and tactics in response to a "steady deterioration in the security situation", the team said in its report.
The report noted significant progress but said "the next 12 months will be decisive."
The team, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, travelled to Iraq at Pentagon expense between June 27 and July 7. It was led by John Hamre, who served as deputy defense secretary in the Clinton administration and is now CSIS president.