Foreign trips by second-term American presidents usually are undertaken with an eye toward legacy-building. It's impossible to tell what the Bush administration was aiming for in the president's swing through India and Pakistan at the end of this week.

The jury is still out, but a mind-boggling nuclear agreement with India isn't a slam dunk for burnishing Bush's image in American history books. Departing from a wise and well-worn path followed by the United States since the dawn of the nuclear age, the president agreed to extend American help so India can expand its nuclear activity. Indeed, Bush himself had followed the traditional path in an otherwise groundbreaking deal with Russia, early in his first term, to trim the number of nuclear weapons on both sides.

In the India deal, this giant and growing nation in an unstable region of the world would receive U.S. expertise and nuclear fuel to expand its civilian nuclear program -- in order to produce more electricity for its rapidly developing economy. In return, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledges to separate India's military and civilian nuclear programs. Over the next eight years, it would open 14 nuclear plants classified for civilian purposes to permanent international inspection.

But that still leaves eight reactors that would remain behind a curtain of secrecy. And the agreement doesn't require monitoring of new Indian reactors. No bargain there. The agreement must be approved by the U.S. Congress, hardly a foregone conclusion, and by an informal international nuclear alliance.

What's in it for the United States? Or for the international community, for which the U.S. has a moral obligation to exert its influence on nuclear matters? In its favor -- and here's where good might come from the deal, in decades to come -- India's nuclear program finally would receive some up-close inspection by international monitors. India is a reliable democracy, but its status as a nuclear power calls for monitoring, to whatever extent that can be arranged.

The agreement would triple India's energy production without a corresponding increase in fossil-fuel air pollution. And India was primed to augment its nuclear program in any event. But Bush sends a mixed signal to the world -- and particularly to aspiring nuclear powers Iran and North Korea -- by giving India a weapons proliferation green light.

The president landed in neighboring Pakistan yesterday afternoon (Washington time), but no breathtaking deals were expected there. His main aim was to boost the profile of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally in the war on terror. And Bush also needed to make the stop, given Pakistan's bitter relations with India.

The White House planned to use the visit to put a spotlight on U.S. aid to Pakistanis left in dire circumstances after the devastating earthquake in the Kashmir region in October. American nonprofits and military units sped aid to the region for altruistic reasons. But the gesture elevated this nation in the eyes of Muslims, a decided plus amid the conflict with Islamic-inspired terror. The administration was wise to use the trip to highlight that aid.

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