Editorial: Bush's visit to India, Pakistan
Denver Post, March 1, 2006

President Bush arrives in India today for a high-profile visit in a country that is more and more in the American mind. India is the world's biggest democracy, and it becomes more intertwined with the U.S. economy every day.

Bush will be pursuing closer ties with New Delhi and polishing a devil-in-the-details plan designed in part to nudge India's civilian nuclear industry out of the closet.

Bush's three-day visit to Asia will include a brief (and nervous) stop in Pakistan, India's longtime arch-rival in a relationship that has thawed in recent years. The brief stopover will give the president a chance to thank President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for his cooperation in the war on terror, even in the face of domestic opposition.

The centerpiece of the India visit is a controversial proposal to lift an international ban on sales of civilian nuclear technology and fuel to India even though it has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The proposal was put forward last summer when Bush made the surprise offer to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In exchange for gaining access to commercial nuclear technology and equipment, Singh offered to open its civilian nuclear power industry to international inspections, halt further nuclear tests and avoid cooperation with nuclear proliferators. The deal is supposed to include fast-breeder reactors, which will take decades to create but eventually would produce plutonium for both bombs and producing energy.

But there were signs ahead of Bush's visit that the deal could stall over Indian efforts to define key reactors as military, exempting them from inspections.

A deal could lead to closer economic ties, provide a booming market