McCain, Obama pro-CTBT: Strobe Talbott

NEW DELHI: The time to conclude the nuclear deal is now. US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are unlikely to pick up the nuclear deal in its present form, said former deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott, who has been a strong critic of the deal.

Mr Talbott, a non-proliferation hawk, said that the reason the deal would not survive into the next administration is that both the US presidential candidates were leaning towards a revival of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India will not sign.

The former US state department official said that a future US administration that is committed to CTBT would find it difficult to support the nuclear deal that was negotiated between US president George W Bush and Mr Singh.

The non proliferation pundits have been highly critical of the nuclear deal saying it does not legally bind or extract any assurances from India on the non proliferation front.

"If you had in Washington an administration that was committed to CTBT that would complicate an effort to resurrect the George W Bush���Manmohan Singh deal that has run into such trouble there in India," Mr Talbott told a television channel.

As far as CTBT is concerned, Mr Bush himself had asked the US Congress to not ratify the treaty. However, Senator Obama who has been leaning towards a revival of the treaty has said that he would make it a priority to ratify CTBT. On the other hand, Mr McCain, who once voted against CTBT in the 90s, has said that he would keep an open mind about future developments.

Mr Talbott, the president of the prestigious Brookings Institution in Washington, has been highly critical of the Bush administration for failing to get assurances from India on non-proliferation but has acknowledged that it is a good deal for India.

"And despite my reservation about the wisdom of the deal from the Non-proliferation global standpoint, it���s a good deal for India," he said.

Even as the government tries to push through the nuclear deal, the assessment in New Delhi partly matches that of Mr Talbott that the deal would not survive particularly if Senator Obama were to elected President.

It was Senator Obama who had introduced one of the killer amendments, which was voted out, seeking to limit nuclear fuel sold to India. But New Delhi is more optimistic about Mr McCain who has expressed his support for the nuclear deal saying it will strengthen ties with India and add to the global fight against nuclear proliferation.