Iraq: Delhi gets a US call again

The sources said the US had decided to open up, realising the need to get the international community, under a larger UN umbrella, involved in Iraq, especially after the assassinations of UN special envoy to Iraq Sergio de Mello and a leading Shia cleric in Najaf.

The US, the sources maintained, was still ‘‘extremely interested’’ in a division-level force from India (nearly 20,000 troops). But American diplomats were actively talking to Turkey and Bangladesh to send troops to Iraq as well.

Interestingly, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee will be spending nearly four days on an official visit to Turkey before he flies off to attend the UN General Assembly in New York in the middle of the month. The sources pointed out that the Cabinet Committee on Security had asked for an ‘‘explicit UN mandate’’ before India could send troops to keep the peace in Iraq, and that it was waiting to see that the US would widen the ambit in Baghdad to allow a ‘‘real transfer of political authority’’ from US representative Paul Bremer to an Iraqi Cabinet that the Americans were proposing beyond the existing Iraqi Governing Council.

They reiterated that India would only send troops to Iraq if such a transfer of political authority took place. In short, if Paul Bremer relinquished control of the Iraqi political decision-making to the new Cabinet in Iraq, then New Delhi would consider that the ‘‘occupying powers’’ — the US, UK and a handful of European nations — were seriously in the business of enlarging command and control.

The British, who have taken over the presidency of the Security Council in September — the US will take charge in October — are expected to bring about a sea-change in the way the international authority looks at Iraq.

Sources here conceded that India would be ‘‘definitely interested’’ in participating in a UN-mandated force in Iraq even if it were to be headed by an American general. The sources said that a bifurcation of authority was possible, with the coalition forces (US-UK) working simultaneously with a UN force.

It is not clear whether India is suggesting ‘‘any of the language’’ for a new US resolution at the UN. ‘‘India is carefully watching what the Americans are doing,’’ the sources said, pointing out that the next few days rather than weeks were going to be crucial.