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| India-Pakistan | |
| Pakistan, India wary of UK's Afghan exit plan | |
| 2010-01-18 | |
| NEW DELHI: Ahead of the London conference on Afghanistan, the British roadmap for an exit strategy has unnerved policymakers both in India and Pakistan: while New Delhi considers the return of the Taliban inimical to its interests, Pakistan does not want a repeat of the 1988 Geneva agreement that allowed Soviet troops to withdraw without addressing Islamabad's security interests. British Special Envoy on Afghanistan Sherard Cowper-Coles, who was in the region last week, was told by both Indians and Pakistanis that they would not support an exit strategy until their “genuine security interests' had been addressed.
The British plan – which will be tabled at the London conference – calls for the Taliban to share power in the next 18 months with the current regime and the group's members to be integrated into the Afghan Army. With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's own future hanging in the balance, he must explain the continuing British involvement in Afghanistan. Brown may be pushing the Afghan plan for his own sake, but it could have the secret approval of the US president. But India fears the British plan would not only translate into heightened militant activity in Jammu and Kashmir, but would also amount to “amending' the Afghan constitution and revising the UN Security Council terrorist list. If the British plan is put into operation, Indian officials also fear it would lead to control of Afghanistan falling into the hands of the Taliban, Pakistan and the ISI. Fearing that India may oppose their plan, major powers involved in the conference are apparently making it a point to take New Delhi on board – the UK's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan was here this week to explore where India would fit into the plan to be discussed in London; US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is scheduled for consultations here on Monday; the Russian security secretary is expected early next month to specifically discuss Afghanistan; and the US defence secretary is also arriving here next week for talks on Afghanistan. Pakistan has been resisting the plan primarily because it envisages India joining a regional council on Afghanistan, to be set up after the London conference. It also believes that once the West exits Afghanistan, the Kashmir dispute would be left for India and Pakistan to settle on their own. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 OOOOOPPSIES, forgot MUMBAI SURVIVOR KASAB CLAIMS HE DID NOT RECEIVE TRAINING IN PAKISTAN; + SEVERE ENERGY SHORTAGE LOOMS OVER SOUTH ASIA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-18 21:32 |
| #2 ION INDJUH PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA DRIVES ITS TRIBALS INTO MAOIST ARMS [ideology + desire for armed struggle]. INDIA's Tribals are econ worse off than than the country's BALITS[ formerly known as the "Untouchables" as per India's caste system. INDIA'S TRIBAL HOMELANDS/HEARTLAND SHOULD EXPECT A BLOODBATH. * SAME > INDIA FACES THREAT OF ANOTHER 26/11 [Taj Hotel, MUMBAI Incident], LIKELY TO ACT MILITARILY IN RESPONSE, SAYS LEADING US THINK-TANK CFR. ARTIC > indics that NUMEROUS PAK = AFPAK MILITANT GROUPS [not only AL QAEDA] remain highly motivated to attack or strike at targets inside India despite thier fight agz US-ALLIED Govts-Forces in Afghanistan or Pakistan - AL QAEDA PER SE MAY RE-DIRECT ITS FOCII TO LAUNCHING TERROR OPERS, INCLUD SUICIDE BOMBINGS, AGZ INDIA IN ORDER OT PROVOKE INDO-PAKI WAR + DIVERT US-NATO MIL RESOURCES + POL ATTENTION FROM AFPAK INSURGENCIES. * SAME > US: LeT HAS GLOBAL AMBITIONS, READY FOR MASS KILLINGS; + KASAB CLAIMS THREE OF NINE [possibly FOUR?] SLAIN MUMBAI TERRORISTS [Taj Hotel] WERE INDIAN. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-01-18 21:30 |
| #1 It also believes that once the West exits Afghanistan, the Kashmir dispute would be left for India and Pakistan to settle on their own. Blinded by the light. |
| Posted by: Swanimote 2010-01-18 09:33 |