[Assam] from the NYT

[Alpana Sarangapani]

Just saw Yashwant Sinha's interview on CNN. It was a good interview and Sinha portrayed himself and India with great dignity and has held her ground. He seems really smart and articulate.   Are Foreign ministers in India are selected from the IAS/IFS cadre or are they just elected officials?   BTW,  C'da: I suspect this might be a damper on your spirits :), but what can I say, good things do happen when it comes to India. --------------------------------------------------- Powell Gives Up Hope for Indian Troops http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-US-Iraq-Troops.html By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: September 28, 2003 Filed at 2:59 p.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that the United States has given up hope of getting Indian soldiers to help coalition forces secure Iraq, but said he was optimistic countries would contribute troops after a U.N. resolution. ``The Indians, they have indicated they would not be in a position to provide troops. And I don't expect that position to change,'' Powell said in an interview on the television news channel CNN. Advertisement   Powell said he was disappointed with New Delhi's decision but ``it's become clear in recent months that, for a variety of reasons, internal political domestic politics, the Indians would not be in a position to provide troops.'' Powell said the United States could not count anymore on a large number of international troops for deployment in Iraq. ``But is there still the possibility of more troop contributors? Yes.'' India, with one of the largest standing armies in the world, has been a regular contributor to world peacekeeping -- it has served in 37 out of the 56 U.N. peacekeeping missions, including those in Somalia, East Timor and Sierra Leone. But when the government asked Parliament this month to approve deploying Indian soldiers to Iraq, lawmakers balked, saying India would join only if troops were under a U.N. commander. Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha suggested his country could reconsider, but said a U.N. stamp for Iraqi peacekeeping was essential. India would ``take a decision provided there is a fresh U.N. Security Council resolution for a mandate for a multinational force,'' Sinha told CNN on Sunday. On the sidelines of the two-week U.N. General Assembly session that opened Tuesday, both President Bush and Powell have been meeting with world leaders, seeking troop contributions to make the coalition in Iraq broader and hopefully improve the security situation. The Bush administration had hoped to set up a third division of 10,000 to 15,000 peacekeeping troops with contributions from India, Pakistan, Turkey and South Korea. But most countries say that they would do so only after the U.N. Security Council mandates such a force. Countries like Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, and India, which has a large Muslim population, are concerned that sending troops to join the U.S. and British-led coalition could be seen as hostile to Islam. ``It is important that our troops not be seen as part of an occupation force,'' Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told The Associated Press Wednesday before his meeting with Bush. Washington still differs with countries such as Germany and France, which want a quicker transfer of power to the Iraqis and a larger role for the United Nations in postwar Iraq. That could delay a Security Council resolution for months.