The United States Thursday said
it will "continue cooperation" with India to achieve the goal
of getting the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement completed.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto was asked
in his briefing as to where the two sides stand on the accord
given that Washington's pointsman for the deal, Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is
scheduled to depart the State Department by the end of March.
"We'll continue our cooperation in order to achieve that
goal of getting the agreement completed," Fratto said.
Burns is stepping down from the Foreign Service at the
end of March but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
that he will continue in the capacity of an Envoy on the
civilian nuclear deal.
Political analysts here have cautioned that the deal is
running out of time and that the ball is in India's court to
move it along. The warning to the Indian political
establishment has also been that the civilian nuclear
arrangement has its best chances in a Bush Administration and
the deal stands a very difficult time to get through a White
House with a Democratic President and a fully
Democrat-controlled Congress.