At around 4 p.m. on Sunday evening, US Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott pulled up before the Watergate Hotel in a Mercedes Benz convertible and whisked away India's special envoy Jaswant Singh for a private dinner over at his residence at Woodley Park.

No word emerged about their private tete-a-tete which lasted for over four hours, but as Singh rejoined the rest of the diplomatic heavyweights --Indians and Americans -- who met for dinner as scheduled at the residence of the Indian ambassador in the nearby suburb of Cleveland Park, those in attendance said there was an unmistakable positive air about the situation.

"Things are going well... I'd say it is forward looking," a key diplomat at the dinner said of the parleys about which there has been absolutely no official elaboration because both sides have forsworn the media in ordernot to "complicate matters".

As a result, specific details of the exchanges are hard to come by, but it is understood that the Indian side has forwarded some proposals to the US side. "How things go now depends on how they see our proposals," one Indian official said without elaborating.

But from all accounts, the two sides are in the thick of the crucial fourth round of talks amid high expectations that it will lead to a breakthrough in the impasse over nuclear and non-proliferation related issues.

The breakthrough could also involve an announcement about President Clinton's proposed visit to South Asia. It is widely acknowledged that unless these talks are fruitful, there is little chance of a November visit forthcoming because of the timeline required to plan such a trip.

Delegation level talks between the two sides began in the state department at 10 am Monday and was still underway at the time of writing. The talks will be followed by a working lunch.

"Things have been going very well... it isquite likely that further progress will be achieved," a key participant in the parleys told The Indian Express before going into this morning's negotiations.

Sources close to the situation say that India is ready to commit itself broadly to American endeavours to achieve a universal non-proliferation regime as long as Washington understands and appreciates New Delhi's security concerns vis-a-vis its nuclear neighbours.

Or, as Jaswant Singh himself put it in a recent article in Foreign Affairs magazine, "The challenge to Indian statecraft is to reconcile India's security imperatives with valid international concerns regarding nuclear weapons."

This would mean India would agree to sign the nuclear test ban treaty and participate in talks on a treaty to halt production of fissile material, provided it has enough leeway to safeguard its security interests under its proclaimed rubric of "minimum credible deterrence".

From all accounts, the United States is also reconciled to this. Initial adversereaction to the "minimum credible deterrence" philosophy has been followed by a more tempered stand. How all this will be fitted into the fine print is the tricky part.

Washington has publicly stated that it is against any conditional deals because it could set a bad precedent. One of the key items on today's agenda is to work on language that would allow both sides to claim they have had their way.

Following a working lunch with the Indian team, Talbott is scheduled to leave for London later in the evening for talks with the Pakistani delegation headed by foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed.

Following the luncheon meeting, Jaswant Singh is scheduled to call on the new Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who has just taken office replacing Frederico Pena.

Richardson told a meeting of his departmental staff that the United States was ready to cooperate with India on "energy and other issues" but in return, Washington would like New Delhi to adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Singh will also meetUS Deputy Secretary of Defence John Hamre later in the evening.

Fernandes flays US

BHADERWAH: Defence Minister George Fernandes on Monday charged the United States with adopting `dual standards' in tackling terrorism, and regretted that Washington, despite having struck terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Sudan, had failed to take any step against Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"While the US has carried out attacks in retaliation to terrorist attacks on its citizens, it has not said anything when Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has killed innocent people," Fernandes said laying the foundation stone of a military station here.