Donald Trump’s new nuclear missiles treaty may include India
US President Donald Trump has proposed a new nuclear missiles treaty that has the potential to include India as he delivered the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the US.
Defending his decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, he said in the speech on Tuesday night, “Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement, adding China and others, or perhaps we can’t” — in which case, we will outspend and out-innovate all others by far.
Trump defended his decision to withdraw from the INF treaty saying, “Russia repeatedly violated its terms.”
The INF treaty signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev banned land-based missiles of 1,000 to 5,000 kilometres.
It did not have any direct references to India or region, except for US negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan “to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan.”
“My Administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism,” he said.
But he added, “We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement, but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace.”
Some of the Prithvi and Agni class missiles in India’s arsenal could fall under the ambit of such a treaty, as well as some of Pakistan’s Babur, Shaheen and Ghauri missiles.
