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US will help India, Pak if they stop "pointing fingers": Kerry
The US will help India and Pakistan "find a new way forward" only if they stop "pointing fingers at each other," a visiting top Senator said on Monday, even as Islamabad asserted that a "calm eastern border" is essential to focus on its war against terror in Afghanistan.
And remember, death is not an option: Is John Kerry the most clueless person in the U.S. Senate? Discuss.
The US will help both countries "find a new way forward" but at the same time New Delhi "needs to look at where it is going to be in 10 years," visiting US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry said at a joint news conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

If India and Pakistan spent all their time "pointing fingers at each other and on the past", they would "never get to the future," Kerry added.

"The world wants Pakistan to focus on the western border because extremism and terrorism has to be dealt with. But to focus on the western border, Pakistan wants a calm eastern border," Qureshi said.

"And if we have a calm eastern border, it certainly makes our task easier," he added.

The US Senator also made it clear that Richard Holbrooke had been appointed the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and India is not included in his brief. Issues like Kashmir have to be resolved separately, he said.
Posted by: john frum 2009-04-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=267486