With US-Indo relations scaling dizzy heights on President George W. Bush’s watch—symbolised by the groundbreaking nuclear deal—the official acknowledged that "many Indians will be looking at this issue (Mumbai probe) as an indicator of what this relationship can become". Admitting that there is enough evidence linking the Mumbai terrorists to Pakistan, the official said, "Pakistan now has to accept that and make some very difficult decisions." However, he thought, it was premature to believe that the Pakistani government was culpable in Mumbai, as Prime Minster Manmohan Singh had indicated in his recent remarks.
What can Washington do to meet India’s expectations? State Department spokesman Gregory Sullivan told Outlook, "Obviously, Pakistan and India have had troubled relations. We know shifting toward a posture of cooperation and sharing information isn’t going to be easy. It will not happen overnight." The US could take the role of facilitator, Sullivan said. "In the Mumbai investigation," he went on to add, "Pakistan has some pieces of the puzzle and India has some. Both sides need to sit down and put all the pieces on the table."
K. Alan Kronstadt, a specialist in South Asian affairs at the Congressional Research Service, says that besides bringing intense diplomatic pressure on Islamabad, Washington could make cooperation in specific terrorism investigations a prerequisite for future US assistance to Pakistan. The Bush Administration opposed the imposition of overt conditions on US aid to Pakistan, but Kronstadt speculated that as president, Barack Obama may opt for this linkage.
A former Clinton Administration official, however, speaking on condition that he not be named, said suggestions that the current crisis in the subcontinent will serve as a "litmus test" for US-India relations is "old-think language. I don’t think our bilateral relations need to be put to the test by any one issue, whether it is Pakistan, Iran or anything else". Be that as it may, Washington clearly hopes to provide India some comfort on Mumbai.
