US President George W Bush moved to reassure Americans on Saturday that broader ties with countries like India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will strengthen US national security, despite widespread criticism of a nuclear deal he signed with New Delhi.
"By working with these leaders and the people of these three nations, we're seizing the opportunities this new century offers and helping to lay the foundations of peace and prosperity for generations to come," the US president said in his weekly radio address.
He said the nuclear agreement he had reached with India would bring India's civilian nuclear programmes under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The deal, however, was meet with sharp criticism in the US Congress. Democratic Representative Edward Markey, co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force on Non-proliferation, said the agreement undercuts the very foundation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"It empowers the hawks in every rogue nation to put their nuclear weapons plans on steroids now that they can no longer be isolated as non-signers of an agreement that has been shredded," Markey said in a statement. But Bush insisted the deal was "good for American security because it will bring India's civilian nuclear programme into the international non-proliferation mainstream."
"The agreement also is good for the American economy," the US president continued. "The agreement will help meet India's surging energy needs, and that will lessen India's growing demand for other energy supplies and help restrain energy prices for American consumers." The president also highlighted the importance of trade with India, which he described as a rapidly expanding market for US products. He noted that Air India had recently ordered 68 planes from Boeing Company and US exports to India grew last year by more than 30 percent. "And all this trade is creating jobs and opportunity in America," Bush said.
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