P 120303Z MAR 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 
INFO ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T STATE 023178 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2019 
TAGS: OVIP CLINTON HILLARY RODHAM PREL PTER ENVR ECON
PINR, IN 
SUBJECT: THE SECRETARY'S MEETING WITH INDIAN FOREIGN 
SECRETARY MENON 
 
Classified By: SCA PDAS DONALD A. CAMP FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) 
AND (D) 
 
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Participants 
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United States 
 
The Secretary 
Under Secretary Burns 
Acting PA Assistant Secretary Robert Wood 
SCA PDAS Donald Camp 
Secretary's Staff, Joe MacManus 
SCA Notetaker, John Ashworth 
 
 
India 
 
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon 
Ambassador Ronen Sen 
DCM Arun Singh 
Joint Secretary Gaitri Kumar 
Director Naveen Srivastava 
Counsellor (Political) Jawed Ashraf 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  In a friendly March 9 meeting with Indian 
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Secretary Clinton 
outlined her vision of a "stand-alone global partnership" 
with India.  She and Menon discussed global issues (climate 
change, world economy, peacekeeping), regional issues 
(Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka), and bilateral issues 
(End-Use Monitoring, counterterrorism).  The Secretary and 
Menon further agreed to work towards a President Obama/Prime 
Minister Singh meeting at the G-20 Summit, to link up the 
U.S. and Indian climate change envoys, to seize on a "window 
of opportunity" to cooperate in Sri Lanka, and to coordinate 
better in Afghanistan, starting at the March 31 Hague 
conference.  This was the highest level meeting between U.S. 
and Indian officials since the President assumed office.  End 
Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Global Issues -- Climate, Economy, Peacekeeping 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  (C) The Secretary and Menon both expressed hope that 
Prime Minister Singh (health permitting) and President Obama 
could discuss the global economy and climate change on the 
margins of the April 2 G-20 Summit in London.  The Secretary 
noted the deepening bilateral economic and commercial 
relationship and highlighted the need to avoid protectionism. 
She lent her support to increased bilateral climate 
cooperation, perhaps between Todd Stern and Shyam Saran 
during the latter's March 23 visit to Washington.  She 
brought up the tenuous status of Indian peacekeepers in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Menon said the government 
in Kinshasa sent an official note verbale asking India to 
withdraw its troops.  He said India could work out an 
arrangement, and would not leave in a haste, but needs the 
Congolese government to rescind the note. 
 
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Regional Issues -- Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶3.  (C) On Sri Lanka, the Secretary asked Menon how the 
United States and India can work together to improve the 
humanitarian situation.  Menon said it was a matter of days 
before the government concluded the conventional war, and 
there was a small window to separate the Liberation Tigers of 
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the civilian population and convince 
the government to quickly rebuild the north.  They agreed 
that the U.S. and India would look for practical ways to 
cooperate in Sri Lanka. (Note:  On March 10, U/S Burns handed 
Menon a non-paper on additional areas for coordinationin 
Colombo and among capitals.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.      (C) Menon relayed his concerns about internal 
instability in Pakistan and the difficulty of dealing with 
fractured leadership and discontinuity between the military 
and civilians.  Menon believed the key would be to change the 
Pakistani army's mindset away from support for terrorists. 
He expressed his government's concerns over U.S. sales to 
Pakistan of weapons that are "unrelated to counter- 
terrorism," presumably a reference to F-16s. 
 
¶5.  (S) The Secretary thanked Menon for India's 
contributions in Afghanistan and invited active Indian 
participation in the March 31 Hague conference on Afghan 
reconstruction.  Menon said India has quietly begun 
coordinating more with NATO and could broaden assistance 
to include training police and security forces.  Menon 
said he hoped for a peaceful caretaker period before free 
and fair August 20 elections.  The Secretary noted that 
the Taliban could increase attacks during the pre-election 
period to try to destabilize the government. 
 
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Bilateral Issues -- End-Use Monitoring, Counterterrorism 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Responding to the Secretary's point on end-use 
monitoring, Menon said India is already doing monitoring; 
it is just a matter of getting the lawyers to find a way 
to put it on paper.  He said the issue was basically 
"soluble," and described the monitoring agreement as about 
more than defense sales but important for the long-term 
bilateral relationship.  The Secretary expressed our 
solidarity with India in dealing with terrorists and 
emphasized the importance of building on a strong 
foundation of bilateral ounterterrorism cooperation. 
Menon said an improved U.S. - India ounterterrorism 
relationship was one of the few good things to come out 
of the Mumbai attacks.  He thanked the Secretary for 
the positive role the Federal Bureau of Investigation is 
playing in the Mumbai attacks investigation and 
expressed hope for the positive trajectory to continue. 
 
 
CLINTON