India-Pakistan standoff to hurt fight against terrorism: top US experts

[Pk_Thunder]

India-Pakistan standoff to hurt fight against terrorism: top US experts ​

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (APP): Any military standoff between India and Pakistan over Mumbai attacks will hurt the fight against terrorism and serve the purpose of terrorists, top American experts warned while urging Washington on sustained efforts to help resolve sources of insecurity in the high-stakes region.

“Let’s be responsible about these things, let the investigation run its course and let’s remember that at the end of the day there is not a war option to resolve this question,” foreign policy analyst and counterterrorism expert Bruce Riedel, who has been advising President-elect Barack Obama on South Asia, said.

He was speaking at Washington’s Brooking Institution, where South Asian experts examined pitfalls and possibilities facing the two nuclear armed neighbours as the United States sent two emissaries on a de-escalation mission to the region, where it needs Pakistan to fight terrorists on the Afghan border.

“One of the plans behind this attack was to provoke and put further strains on India-Pakistan relations. Clearly that is the goal of terrorists,” said Dr Stephen Cohen, a seasoned expert on South Asian security and foreign policy issues. He called for strategic solutions to problems.

The experts recalled that extremists on the Afghan border found a breathing space to thrive when Pakistan moved its forces on the eastern border in response to Indian deployment during a tense 2001-02 face-off.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, a security studies professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, analysed regional implications of terrorism in the interwoven Pakistan-India-Afghanistan perspective.

“Most immediately, tension between India and Pakistan, if it escalates, could most directly diminish the attention and resources Pakistan devotes to its Western front,” she said.

Islamabad, she noted, has already stated in the past two days, that if the situation with India escalates, it would divert its troops to the eastern border with India.

“Diplomacy needs to focus on reducing tensions between India and Pakistan,” she said, adding that a moderate response to the Mumbai attack would be in India’s interest.

The discussion also focused on the critical need to have a regional framework to curb the menace of terrorism, also engaging countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India.

Pakistan, which itself has gone through sufferings at the hands of terrorists, should be encouraged to sustain action against violent extremists, the participants said but also cautioned that pressuring the country too much could lead to destabilization.

Bruce Riedel and Stephen Cohen lauded President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent “sincere” peace overtures to New Delhi.

“We should work with Zardari, encourage India to work with Zardari,” Cohen added.

Cohen critically reviewed the Pakistani and Indian policies and pointed out “India’s profound ambiguity” regarding its approach to relations with Pakistan. “Indian’s are profoundly ambiguous. Some would like to normalize relations with Pakistan and respond to Zardari’s overtures, which I think are sincere.”

Others would like to break up Pakistan and still others will like to ignore Pakistan, he added. “So there is a dilemma for the Indians that they have no settled Pakistan policy.”

He said it is up to the Pakistanis to take the Marriott bombing as a wake-up call and go after terrorism more effectively to get rid of the menace. India, he said, is part of the problem and part of the solution also.

The author of several books on Pakistan and India said New Delhi’s coming forward to resolve Siachen and Sir Creek disputes would be helpful.

The participants also looked into Pakistan-India tensions vis-a-vis Afghanistan with Vanda Brown agreeing in response to a question on the need to ratchet down the temperature.

While India’s opening consulates in Afghanistan could be understandable from the point of view of advancing it economic ties, “it is clearly important to restrain India’s activities in Afghanistan,” she said.

The experts discussed the attackers’ alleged link to banned organization

Lashkar-e-Tayiba as claimed by India and also probed the global terrorism context

of the Mumbai episode in view of the fact that the targeted victims belonged to several nations.

However experts cautioned against jumping to any conclusions.

“Let me caution, investigation of this massacre is only now beginning.

It’s in the very early starting phase. There is no serious claim of responsibility or explanation or justification yet in the public or the media from a known activity. There is phone call. That’s all,” Bruce Riedel said.

“Much is unknown about the planning and the planners behind the plot.

There is tremendous contradictory information available in the public domain. And

all that needs to be sorted out,” he added. He also called for considering “the possibility that the terrorists deliberately brought with them misleading disinformation” to throw the investigators off the real target.

He said terrorism in India is a “complex phenomenon” with multiple

actors,- including the Indian Mujahideen and Hindu inspired elements and informed

that terrorism sponsored by rural Maoists insurgents, the naxalites, kills more people in the country than every group else combined.

 

[donrahul]

So said the Eternal War Monger..

 

[Kasrkin]

"Eternal War Monger" has a point, even if it is selfishly motivated.

 

[Neo]

Indian misstep to hit war on terror, US told: US military chief meets Zardari, Gen Kayani​

ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan has told the Unites States that it is not involved in the Mumbai carnage, directly or indirectly, and that any aggression from the Indian side will compel it to move its forces fighting militants in the tribal areas to the Indian border.

Pakistan’s position was conveyed by President Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting with US Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen here on Wednesday.

Admiral Mullen also met army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Tariq Majeed, National Security Adviser Mahmud Durrani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha.

According to sources, the commanders made it clear that the ‘war on terror’ would not be Pakistan’s top priority if there was any unusual military build-up by India along the borders. National integrity would not be compromised at any cost, they said.

About the list of people sought by India, the president said: They would be tried in Pakistan if evidence against them was provided.

Admiral Mullen was told that US air attacks in tribal areas would have adverse effects on the war on terror because militants were gaining sympathy because of the attacks. “Such attacks will be counter-productive to collective efforts against terrorism in the region.”

The military leadership stressed Indian allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks would increase tension between the two countries.

Admiral Mullen said the US would play its role to defuse the tension.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the CNN, President Zardari rejected allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in the attacks. No evidence, he said, had been produced to substantiate such claims.

“The state of Pakistan is in no way responsible,” he said.

“I think these are stateless actors who have been operating throughout the region. Pakistan itself has been a victim of terrorism and fighting the menace resolutely,” he said.

“Even the White House and the American CIA have said that the state of Pakistan is not involved. We’re among the victims. I’m a victim. The state of Pakistan is a victim. We are victims of this war, and I am sorry for the Indians, and I feel sorry for them,” he said.

The president said the elected government had nothing to do with any militant activity against India.

“I can assure the world from my side, from my army’s side, from my parliament’s side and from the people of Pakistan that we are not helping any such activity.” Mr Zardari confirmed that he was willing to have Pakistani officials work with India in a joint investigation.

When asked about a suspect who is in Indian custody, he said: “We have not been given any tangible proof to say that he is definitely a Pakistani. I very much doubt that he is a Pakistani.” He said that stateless individuals were also killing people in Pakistan. “Like I said these are stateless individuals. We’ve had incidents over the past two days in Karachi where we’ve lost more than 40 to 45 people and hundreds injured. These are stateless actors who are moving throughout this region,” he added.

 

[Flintlock]

The article is correct - the India-Pak standoff will affect the WOT. The problem however is, that the terrorists who are attacking India are not in the Hindu Kush, but east in the Punjab.

The US is slowly realizing that these terrorists are as much a threat to their citizens as the ones hiding in the mountains.

 

[Kasrkin]

The article is correct - the India-Pak standoff will affect the WOT. The problem however is, that the terrorists who are attacking India are not in the Hindu Kush, but east in the Punjab.
The US is slowly realizing that these terrorists are as much a threat to their citizens as the ones hiding in the mountains.

LOL, okay...we have another one man intelligence team here guys.