The U.S. and India finally hammered out the details of their agreement to share nuclear technology.

The U.S. and India finally hammered out the details of their agreement to share nuclear technology. Critics of the deal charge that it is too generous--recklessly generous--to India. The U.S. will supply India with nuclear fuel for its reactors, and will allow India to reprocess this fuel. To the critics, this seems a double standard: How can America combat proliferation while making it easier for India, if it so chooses, to proliferate? The answer is that the character of the regime in question matters. India, though it has not signed the NPT, has never been a party to illicit transfers of nuclear technology. North Korea and Iran, both signatories of the NPT, have. (North Korea, confronted with its violations, resolved this contradiction by withdrawing from the pact.) Moreover, many of India's interests align with those of the U.S., particularly with regard to combating Islamic fundamentalism and counterbalancing the rise of China. It is the sort of ally we should want to have, and should want to help.