Gunga Din...smells the coffee
India Refuses U.S. Request to Send Troops to Iraq
2 hours, 49 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Y.P. Rajesh
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said Monday it would not send peacekeeping troops to Iraq (news - web sites) without a U.N. mandate, rejecting a request from Washington for help in the war-torn nation.
Reuters Photo
The decision came after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (news - web sites)'s Hindu nationalist coalition government failed to build a domestic consensus in support of sending troops to Iraq, an old friend of India.
New Delhi had earlier opposed the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
"Were there to be an explicit U.N. mandate for the purpose, the government of India could consider the deployment of our troops in Iraq," foreign minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters after a two-hour meeting of the cabinet's security committee.
"Our longer-term national interest, our concern for the people of Iraq, our longstanding ties with the Gulf region, as well as our growing dialogue and strengthened ties with the U.S. have been key elements in this consideration," Sinha said.
He said India was, however, ready to contribute to the rebuilding of infrastructure, health care, educational, communications and other civilians needs of the Iraqis.
Political parties, including some in the ruling coalition, had said any Indian troops sent to Iraq would become part of an "occupation force" if they were not covered by a U.N. mandate.
But some foreign policy experts supported sending troops as a way of boosting New Delhi's ties with Washington.
Analysts said Monday's decision, which came about two months after Washington first made the request, was unlikely to hurt the growing friendship between the two countries -- once on opposite sides of the Cold War.
"I don't see any harm or long-lasting ill-effects from this," Bharat Karnad, a strategic affairs analyst at New Delhi's Center for Policy Research, told Reuters. "Our limitations and constraints are well-known to them."
"They have regularly been apprised of the political opposition brewing here and I think, as a democracy, they fully appreciate it," Karnad said.
"Of course, they would have been greatly gratified if we had been able to contribute troops in some way."
India has the world's fourth-largest military, including an army of more than one million, which has taken part in U.N. peacekeeping operations in countries such as Angola, Cambodia and Somalia.
The United States had asked India for a division -- 15,000-20,000 soldiers -- to command a sector of northern Iraq around the city of Mosul.
U.S. troops continue to come under attack in Iraq and more than 30 soldiers have been killed since President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over on May 1.
Troops from Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic states and possibly from the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and Fiji are likely to be part of the peacekeeping forces in Iraq.
Bangladesh and Pakistan, both Muslim nations, have also been asked to take part in peacekeeping operations but they have not announced any decision and there is considerable domestic opposition to the proposals.
India Refuses U.S. Request to Send Troops to Iraq
2 hours, 49 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Y.P. Rajesh
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said Monday it would not send peacekeeping troops to Iraq (news - web sites) without a U.N. mandate, rejecting a request from Washington for help in the war-torn nation.
Reuters Photo
The decision came after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (news - web sites)'s Hindu nationalist coalition government failed to build a domestic consensus in support of sending troops to Iraq, an old friend of India.
New Delhi had earlier opposed the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
"Were there to be an explicit U.N. mandate for the purpose, the government of India could consider the deployment of our troops in Iraq," foreign minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters after a two-hour meeting of the cabinet's security committee.
"Our longer-term national interest, our concern for the people of Iraq, our longstanding ties with the Gulf region, as well as our growing dialogue and strengthened ties with the U.S. have been key elements in this consideration," Sinha said.
He said India was, however, ready to contribute to the rebuilding of infrastructure, health care, educational, communications and other civilians needs of the Iraqis.
Political parties, including some in the ruling coalition, had said any Indian troops sent to Iraq would become part of an "occupation force" if they were not covered by a U.N. mandate.
But some foreign policy experts supported sending troops as a way of boosting New Delhi's ties with Washington.
Analysts said Monday's decision, which came about two months after Washington first made the request, was unlikely to hurt the growing friendship between the two countries -- once on opposite sides of the Cold War.
"I don't see any harm or long-lasting ill-effects from this," Bharat Karnad, a strategic affairs analyst at New Delhi's Center for Policy Research, told Reuters. "Our limitations and constraints are well-known to them."
"They have regularly been apprised of the political opposition brewing here and I think, as a democracy, they fully appreciate it," Karnad said.
"Of course, they would have been greatly gratified if we had been able to contribute troops in some way."
India has the world's fourth-largest military, including an army of more than one million, which has taken part in U.N. peacekeeping operations in countries such as Angola, Cambodia and Somalia.
The United States had asked India for a division -- 15,000-20,000 soldiers -- to command a sector of northern Iraq around the city of Mosul.
U.S. troops continue to come under attack in Iraq and more than 30 soldiers have been killed since President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over on May 1.
Troops from Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic states and possibly from the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and Fiji are likely to be part of the peacekeeping forces in Iraq.
Bangladesh and Pakistan, both Muslim nations, have also been asked to take part in peacekeeping operations but they have not announced any decision and there is considerable domestic opposition to the proposals. |
