In an article in the forthcoming March-April issue of the foreign affairs magazine, he adopted a much sharper tone in rejecting suggestions by ``some Indians that their country's new, self-declared status as a nuclear power enhances its claim to permanent membership on the UN Security Council. The United States disagrees.''

Washington Post commentator Jim Hogland who quoted the article in his opinion piece, `India: The Nuclear Challenge,' says Talbott is concentrating on winning agreement from New Delhi and Islamabad to halt testing, to stop producing fissionable material and to refrain from deploying nuclear-capable missiles.

``Strategic restraint'' will be rewarded with a further relaxing of USEconomic sanctions and other concessions, including a long-delayed visit from president Bill Clinton, the article indirectly suggests. Talbott said ``having India and Pakistan stabilise their nuclear competition at the lowest possible level is both the starting point and the near-term objective of the US diplomatic effort. The Clinton administration does not expect either country to alter or constrain its defence programmes simply because we have asked it to.''