The United States on Thursday said that it would continue cooperating with India to achieve the goal of getting the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement completed.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto was asked in his briefing as to where the two sides stand on the accord, given that Washington's pointsman for the deal, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is scheduled to depart the State Department by the end of March.

"We'll continue our cooperation in order to achieve that goal of getting the agreement completed," Fratto said.

Burns is stepping down from the Foreign Service at the end of March but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that he will continue in the capacity of an Envoy on the
civilian nuclear deal.

Political analysts have cautioned that the deal is running out of time and that the ball is in India's court to move it along.

Experts believe that the civilian nuclear arrangement has its best chances in a Bush administration and the deal will have a very difficult time getting through a White House with a Democratic President and a fully Democrat-controlled Congress.