Negotiation 101: U.S.-Indian Nuclear Diplomacy.

A review of Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb, Brookings Institution Press, 2006.

A senior scientist, who later on went on to become president of India, once praised the author for having established the diplomatic equivalent of "impedance matching", loosely defined as "the practice of attempting to make the output impedance of a source equal to the input impedance of the load to which it is ultimately connected, usually in order to maximize the power transfer and minimize reflections from the load", while "impedance, measured in ohms, is the vector sum of the resistance and the reactance."

I am not sure that this definition aptly describes the US-Indian strategic dialogue that Strobe Talbott and his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh conducted during the two years and a half that followed the atomic test of May 11, 1998. Arguably, the author's own characterization of this dialogue as a kind of engagement, implying both conciliation and contest, provides a better description of what happened during those repeated interactions conducted on behalf of two governments grappling with geopolitical challenges.

The goals pursued by Washington in the negotiation were spelled out very early in the process and drew additional strength from their endorsement by the UN security council. First on the list of steps the US wanted India to take was its signature on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and its promise never to test a nuclear device again. Second was Indian cooperation in negotiating a treaty that would end the production of fissile material (weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium). Another condition was to refrain from putting nuclear warheads on their missiles or bombers and to exercise "strategic restraint" in the deployment of ballistic missiles. The fourth benchmark was not to export equipment, materials, or technology that could help other countries acquire nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles on their own. A fifth step called on India and Pakistan to resume dialogue to address the root causes of tension between them, including Kashmir.

Engaging India blends three different stories. The first is a behind-the-scenes narrative of a diplomatic negotiation between two individuals who came from very different backgrounds but came to respect, trust and appreciate each other. Although Jaswant Singh, a diplomat soldier hailing from Rajasthan, was soon elevated to the position of minister for external affairs and thus outranked the deputy secretary of state, the dialogue continued as before without much consideration for protocol. The fact that Strobe Talbott was known as an old friend of Bill Clinton and was rumored to have direct access to the President added some mystique to the negotiation that he conducted intermittingly during two years, among other demanding assignments. Certainly the officials from Pakistan, with whom he conducted a parallel discussion process, did not enjoy the same latitude from their prime minister, who himself lived under a constant threat of a military coup (he was ultimately overthrown by general Pervez Musharraf in October 1999.)

The second story records the main events that affected the US-Indian relationship, starting with the nuclear test at Pokhran and culminating with President Clinton's visit to India in March 2000. The Indians conducted their test knowing that it would provoke American castigation but also hoping that it might force the United States to pay them serious, sustained, and respectful attention of a kind they felt they had never received before. In a way they were right: although America's approach to the subcontinent has historically been marked by a 'tilt' toward Pakistan, Washington came to recognize India as a strategic partner in its own right or, to use the diplomats' lingo, as "a major regional power with the potential of becoming a global one as well". Certainly Clinton's visit to New Delhi, the first by an American president in twenty-two years, provided a high mark in this process. His speech before the Supreme Legislature, quoted extensively by the author, is indeed a piece of anthology.

On a third level, Talbott's memoir constitutes a "Passage to India" which, as Walt Whitman noted, is always a "Passage to more than India". Through his engagement with one government official, we have a glimpse to the functioning of a nation that takes pride in its independence and the ancientness of its civilization. Gods are never far from the picture: India's medium-range missile Agni is named for the Hindu god of fire, and a scientist who saw the desert rise after the Pokhran nuclear test remarked, "I can now believe stories of Lord Krishna lifting a hill." In this, he was only echoing Robert Oppenheimer's expression of awe when, witnessing the world's first successful test of an atomic bomb in New Mexico, he recalled a line from the Bhagavad-Gita in which the warrior Arjuna had a vision of a thousand suns raised by Krishna to lead him into battle.

Published on Amazon.com on May 27, 2007.