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‘Consider Kosovo fait accompli’

— Photo: R. Raghu

Strobe Talbott: “I would hope that Indians would not have anxiety about the break-up of their own country.”

Strobe Talbott, well-known foreign affairs specialist with a 34-year engagement with India, toured the country for a fortnight recently with a team from the Brookings Institution which he heads. Mr. Talbott, who has alternated between thinker and government minister, in an unscheduled interaction with The Hindu, says the independence of Kosovo should be considered a fait accompli. While not entirely approving of Kosovo declaring itself independent, he feels that India should be proud of maintaining its diversity for over six decades and should hold it to the rest of the world as the best path to follow. He is known in India for his 13 meetings as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State with the former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to end the nuclear stalemate. Mr. Talbott handled the Balkans issue during the Clinton administration. Following are excerpts from the interaction.

India has many things to be proud of, many things to offer to the rest of the world. You have put your finger on the most important …. you are the most diverse country on the planet. It is not just the second biggest on the way to being the biggest. You are also the most diverse. I have been in the country for 13 days. Me and my travelling companions have seen this diversity every stop of the way. You can tell in each individual room, we can tell if some of them are from the north and some of them from the north, some have this native language, some have that native language, and this religion and that religion. And yet you have defied the prophets of doom and you have proved it is possible to make a virtue of diversity. I would hope that Indians would not have anxiety about the break-up of their own country because your own country seems to be strong and getting stronger in so many ways. The best way you can deal with the applications of the Kosovo episode and the splitting problem in Europe in the nineties is to hold yourself as the other way and the right way to go.

I understand those concerns. When I was in the Clinton administration and dealing with the Kosovo issue, I was worried about Kosovo spurring on Balkanisation. One, this was because Kosovo includes a very substantial Serbian minority who were very concerned about how they would be treated in an independent Kosovo. And the second was the effect on other countries. I think we should move away from the Westphalian nation state that is drawing borders around ethnic communities. We had no choice given the atrocities the Belgrade government was carrying out against the Kosovos to conduct the military operations that opened the road to the independence for Kosovo. We simply had no choice. But the blame here lies on Milosevic and the Serbian leadership of the time. I would hold that it is fait accompli that other countries would support and recognise Kosovo.

Let us be very clear. We are not just talking about a contingency brought about by Democrats. It is quite possible that McCain (Republican presidential nominee) may also support the CTBT ratified by the United States. So whatever be the outcome of our domestic politics, our Indian friends need to understand that the mood on nuclear weaponry and control of nuclear weaponry has changed substantially in recent years. And it has changed in the direction of CTBT, more support for the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). So I think the position that India takes with regard to these treaties will significantly influence the way the next U.S. administration works out either an implemented Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal or a non-implemented deal. I have been in India 13 days. We have been in Mumbai and Bangalore and we can see concrete signs of improving commercial ties and improving political ties.

I would not call it a slight divergence. I think it is bit more than that. It is not a diametrical divergence but we have been left in no doubt that India opposes Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state. But there are differences over how best to handle Iran in order to get past this period when Iran seems to be trying to have it both ways: that is claiming to be a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and carrying out enrichment programme, which is not consistent with the statement of peaceful use.

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‘Consider Kosovo fait accompli’

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