BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

INDO-US NUCLEAR AGREEMENT: REGIONAL CONCERNS

Author: M. Emdadul Haq

DOI Link: DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2006v27n2a3

ABSTRACT

The signing of Indo-US nuclear agreement, in March 2006, has been a major breakthrough in the bilateral relationship between India and the United States with far reaching security implications for South Asia and beyond. After long years of cost benefit analyses and a complex process of negotiations, India and the US have forged a strategic partnership that includes exchange of nuclear technology, which even in the recent past has been almost unthinkable. Indo-US strategic partnership is deeper in substance and wider in scope than the Pak-US relationship. India’s decision to remain nuclear and de factoUS recognition to New Delhi’s nuclear status generated significant concern among the countries of the region and beyond. The Indo-US nuclear deal increases the risk of proliferation in South Asia and, thus, became a cause of great concern for the countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and others. It would be a major backward step for global nonproliferation efforts. Before approval, the US Congress should take the risk factors into account and should either recommend major changes in the agreement or reject it altogether.