Clinton talks up broader, deeper ties to India

updated 2:00 p.m. ET July 20, 2009

NEW DELHI - Setting a new path for cooperation with India, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the two nations agreed on ways to expand U.S. defense and civilian nuclear sales, while acknowledging "different perspectives" on other issues such as climate change.

Clinton also said that U.S. officials "firmly believe" that al-Qaida leaders who planned and carried out the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are hiding in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan.

At a news conference concluding three days of meetings, Clinton said Washington has told the Pakistani government what it believes about the location of al-Qaida leaders on its soil.

"With respect to the location of those who were part of the planning and execution of the attack of 9/11 against our country, we firmly believe that a significant number of them are in the border area of Pakistan," she said when asked about the U.S. view.

The Pakistani government denies that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants are hiding on its territory.

'Broaden and deepen' ties
Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, in a joint appearance following a day of high-level talks, pledged that future U.S.-Indian discussions would encompass a much wider scope of issues to include energy security, education, agriculture reform and counterterrorism. Clinton said it would be a "forum for action," not just talk among government leaders and bureaucrats.

"We will work not just to maintain our good relationship, but to broaden and deepen it," she told the evening news conference. "And to that end our governments have agreed to a strategic dialogue," Clinton said. She said that would include not just government officials but also business leaders, scientists, social activists, academics, leaders of charitable foundations, educators and entrepreneurs.

Krishna said the two reaffirmed a commitment to "resist the threat from the scourge of terrorism."

The expressions of goodwill on both sides stand in contrast to sharp differences on carbon emissions and whether India should be part of an international agreement setting legally binding limits on its emissions. An Indian official told Clinton in blunt terms Sunday that India won't accept such limits — a stance that jeopardizes Obama administration efforts to get a meaningful climate change accord.

At her news conference with Krishna, Clinton alluded to those divisions.

"Each of our countries, as you would expect, has different perspectives about the problems we face and how we will solve them," she said. "But as the oldest democracy and the largest democracy in the world we believe we can work through these differences in our perspectives and focus on shared objectives and concrete results."

Clinton said her talks Monday finalized two agreements. One is an Indian designation of two sites on which U.S. companies would have exclusive rights to sell civilian nuclear power reactors. That could be worth an estimated $10 billion in U.S. sales. The other deal is designed to allow the U.S. to ensure that technology in sensitive American defense items purchased by India are not transferred to third countries.

"We want to broaden and deepen our strategic understanding" and find more common ground with India, Clinton told an audience of several hundred students and faculty members at Delhi University earlier Monday.

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