U.S., India Reach Nuclear Energy Pact

President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday announced an agreement on a landmark nuclear deal, a coup for Mr. Bush's first visit to India.

Under the accord, elusive until the last minute, the United States would share American nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy, even though India won't sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It would represent a major shift in policy for the United States, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests.

"We concluded an historic agreement today on nuclear power," Mr. Bush said. "It's not an easy job for the prime minister to achieve this agreement. I understand. It's not easy for the American president to achieve this agreement."

Mr. Bush, turning immediately toward selling the deal to skeptics in the U.S. Congress, called it "a necessary agreement."

"It's one that will help both our peoples," he said.

Singh repeatedly thanked Mr. Bush for personally shepherding the deal.

"But for his leadership, this day probably would not have come so soon," Singh said.

Later in the week, Mr. Bush was heading to Pakistan, where a bombing Thursday outside the U.S. consulate and the Marriott Hotel in Karachi killed at least four people, including a U.S. foreign service officer, and injured 49 other people.

The attack occurred hundreds of miles from Islamabad, where Mr. Bush's events were taking place, but underscored the need for the extraordinary security planned for his visit there.

The president said the attack is not going to change the itinerary of his South Asian trip, which began Wednesday with a surprise stop in Afghanistan.

"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," said Mr. Bush.

Under the terms of the nuclear agreement, India will open 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors to international inspection, as well as all future reactors, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante. This deal does nothing to stop the growth of India's nuclear weapons program, but U.S. officials are betting that India's growing demand for electric power will mean a lot of nuclear reactors and billions of dollars in business for U.S. companies if Congress is willing to change the laws.

The president acknowledged that convincing lawmakers would be difficult.

"Proliferation is certainly a concern and a part of our discussions and we've got a good-faith gesture by the Indian government that I'll be able to take to the Congress," Mr. Bush said. "But the other thing that our Congress has got to understand that it's in our economic interests that India have a civilian nuclear power industry to help take the pressure off the global demand for energy. ... To the extent that we can reduce demand for fossil fuels, it will reduce the cost to the American consumer."

Also acknowledging the deal falls outside the limits of traditional international agreements, Mr. Bush argued it was responsible and would not increase proliferation risks.

"What this agreement says is — things change, times change, that leadership can make a difference. ... So I'm trying to think differently, not stay stuck in the past," he said.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, points out that the nuclear accord with India comes at the same time the U.S. is pressuring Iran to halt its nuclear program.

The agreement with India "runs in the face of all our interest in stopping the trend towards more nuclear weapons states. We want to put pressure on Iran right now and tell Iran there aren't any exceptions, you can't have nuclear weapons. India's own pursuits complicate the situation for us," he told CBS News' The Early Show.

But, O'Hanlon adds, "We can't expect the genie to go back in the bottle in India."

The frantic negotiations for the nuclear pact, coupled with protests planned throughout Mr. Bush's stay, reflected India's mixed feelings about the visit by the leader of the United States — a country seen as a loyal friend by some and a global bully by others.

Many business and government leaders of this nation of more than 1 billion people are eager to strengthen ties with the United States.

But for a second day Thursday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in New Delhi to protest Mr. Bush's visit. Dozens of politicians, mainly from leftist parties, stood on the steps of the country's national parliament building chanting "Bush go back!" and "Down with Bush!"

"He has killed in Afghanistan, he has killed Iraqis and now he is bent on killing Iranians," said Hannan Mollah, a lawmaker from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). "The Indian government should not get into any deal with the Americans. Bush has laid a trap for India."

Mr. Bush began more than 12 hours of events and meetings on Thursday with a striking arrival ceremony in a sun-drenched plaza at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president's palace.

From under a red canopy outside the massive sandstone-colored building, the U.S. president reviewed troops of the Indian armed services outfitted in orange turbans and brown dress uniforms with colorful sashes and marveled at a cavalry unit on horseback that had earlier flanked his limousine.

"I have been received in many capitals around the world but I have never seen a reception as well-organized or as grand," Mr. Bush said.

The president and his wife, Laura, then visited a memorial to India's independence leader, Mohandas K. Gandhi, standing in stocking feet for a moment of silence and wreath-laying at the site where he was cremated in 1948. Following tradition, the Bushes tossed flower petals on the cremation platform — repeating the gesture several times to make sure photographers could get the shot.