NPR's Ted Clark reports that India's prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today noted progress in US - India relations since the strains of the Cold War. He asked the US to understand India's decision to test nuclear weapons two years ago. In a speech to both Houses of Congress, Vajpayee said that India, like the US, has declared a voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapons testing and favors elimination of such weapons. The Indian Prime Minister defended 1998 weapons testing as necessary to India's security. In response to the nuclear tests, by India as well as its hostile neighbor Pakistan, the United States imposed sanctions on both countries. Tomorrow, Vajpayee meets with President Clinton, who visited India and Pakistan last March.
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