On what to look out for during Prime Minister Singh’s state visit
beyond the symbolism of the visit itself, Burns told CFR that there
would be two important aspects — First, the areas where both
countries and their respective governments could and should be working
together.
“”For instance, we should have further cooperation on education, on
space, on science and technology, on agriculture. There’’s our defense
relationship where India is foregoing its long-term dependence on
Russian military technology. There’’s now an opportunity for India to
select and decide to purchase the most sophisticated American military
technology that would cement our military ties. So there are a number
of opportunities here on the positive side of the relationship,” he
said.

The second thing to watch out for was the looming differences in the
relationship, and what steps these partner countries would take to
deal with them.

For instance, he said there was the issue of climate change, where,
despite some better dialogue in the last few months, the two countries
are very far apart on a global solution at Copenhagen and beyond.

Trade was another area where bilateral differences haven’t really sunk.

“If the world trade talks are going to be revived, can India and the
United States cooperate more effectively? And [there''s] the
possibility that we may not see eye-to-eye on Iran. Now, India has
been very careful. It’’s not a supporter of the Iranian government, but
if President Obama decides to go in the direction of economic
sanctions against Iran, will India agree to join those sanctions? So,
as is so often the case in diplomacy, success or failure will not be a
question of just how well we do together on the issues where we agree,
but it’’s how well we can manage the issues where we disagree,” Burns
said.

He also said that it would be a great strategic mistake for the United
States to view India through the prism of Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Burns said: “One of the great conceptual breakthroughs that we said
publicly, “we”re going to de-hyphenate America’’s relations with
India-Pakistan.”

He said Washington’s relationship with India and with Pakistan is
fundamentally different.

“While Pakistan is an enormously important country to the United
States, we shouldn”t subordinate the U.S.-India relationship to it,
and I do see over the last six or seven months, many Americans inside
our government and outside our government being very critical of
India,” he said.

“It is in the American interest to separate these two countries.
Obviously we need to have a strong partnership with Pakistan on
military and economic engagement. But our relationship with India will
be very different. It will be focused on the broader problems of the
region, so India is a very valued partner,” Burns said.

He also said that the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement is a major
step forward for both countries, and is clearly in the interests of
both countries.

“I hope the Indian government will be patient and understand that I”m
sure the Obama administration will meet all the commitments that have
been made by the U.S. government in years past. Having said that, it’’s
going to be important to work on these technical details,” Burns said,
adding that the highest hurdles have been surmounted.

He also said that he admired Prime Minister Singh and his commitment
to peace, his restraint in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

The United States, he said, needs to be very clear about openly and
publicly supporting a much greater Pakistani cooperation with the
Indian government on the Mumbai issue.

“There’’s no question the attackers came from Pakistan. They were
inspired by Pakistani terror groups , and therefore, the Pakistani
government has an obligation to crack down on those groups, not to
allow the people who perhaps were the masterminds of this attack to be
walking around free and able to produce further future terrorist
attacks,” he said.

He did not see the United States openly mediating between India and
Pakistan on critical issues like Kashmir, but added that Washington is
uniquely positioned in South Asia.

“We can be a quiet advocate for the two countries to find a way
forward to avoid the worst-case situation, which would be a nuclear
war between the two, to avoid confrontation, to avoid conflict, and to
work out a process where Indians and Pakistanis can come together,”
Burns said.