India, US begin talks on troops for Iraq

The Pentagon officials led by Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Peter Rodman arrived here late Sunday night following New Delhi's seeking of clarifications from Bush dispensation on different aspects of possible deployment of Indian troops in post-war Iraq.

The US is reportedly keen to have a division of Indian soldiers in Iraq and the issue was raised by none other than American President George W Bush when he had a meeting with Indian Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in Washington last week.

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But India's main opposition Congress, the Left parties and other opposition parties have strongly opposed sending of Indian troops to Iraq unless under the United Nations aegis.

In fact, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had on June four written a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee opposing deployment of Indian troops in Iraq under any command other than that of the UN.

She said sending troops to Iraq under the command of US and British forces would be a gross violation of the fundamentals of Indian foreign policy.

Advani did not make any commitment to Bush and conveyed to him that India would take a decision only after getting clarifications about certain aspects relating to the command and control structure of the Indian troops before taking a decision.

Bush promptly agreed to send a team of Pentagon officials in a bid to address Indian concerns.

Shortly before the arrival of the Pentagon team, Vajpayee held a 70-minute meeting with Sonia Gandhi last evening discussing the issue of sending Indian troops to Iraq.

Emerging from the meeting, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters that a decision on sending Indian troops to Iraq would be taken in the "best national interest" and after consultations with "interested" political parties, including constituents of India's ruling alliance, as well as countries in the neighborhood of Iraq.