India Aggressively Lobbied Against Richard Holbrooke

[BATMAN]

India Aggressively Lobbied Against Richard Holbrooke

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- flanked by President Obama -- introduced Richard Holbrooke as the formidable new U.S. envoy to South Asia at a State Department ceremony on Thursday, India was noticeably absent from his title.

Holbrooke, the veteran negotiator of the Dayton accords and sharp-elbowed foreign policy hand who has long advised Clinton, was officially named "special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan" in what was meant to be one of the signature foreign policy acts of Obama's first week in office.

But the omission of India from his title, and from Clinton's official remarks introducing the new diplomatic push in the region was no accident -- not to mention a sharp departure from Obama's own previously stated approach of engaging India, as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan, in a regional dialogue. Multiple sources told The Cable that India vigorously -- and successfully -- lobbied the Obama transition team to make sure that neither India nor Kashmir was included in Holbrooke's official brief.

"When the Indian government learned Holbrooke was going to do [Pakistan]-India, they swung into action and lobbied to have India excluded from his purview," relayed one source. "And they succeeded. Holbrooke's account officially does not include India."

To many Washington South Asia experts, the decision to not include India or Kashmir in the official Terms of Reference of Holbrooke's mandate was not just appropriate, but absolutely necessary. Given India's fierce, decades-long resistance to any internationalization of the Kashmir dispute, to have done so would have been a non-starter for India, and guaranteed failure before the envoy mission had begun, several suggested.

"Leaving India out of the title actually opens up [Holbrooke's] freedom to talk to them," argued Philip Zelikow, a former counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who served until December as a consultant for a lobbying firm, BGR, retained by the Indian Government.
But to others -- including Obama himself, who proposed a special envoy to deal with Kashmir during the campaign -- the region's security challenges cannot be solved without including India. Obama told Time's Joe Klein, that working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve their Kashmir conflict would be a critical task for his administration's efforts to try to counter growing instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Kashmir in particular is an interesting situation where that is obviously a potential tar pit diplomatically," Obama told Klein. "But, for us to devote serious diplomatic resources to get a special envoy in there, to figure out a plausible approach, and essentially make the argument to the Indians, you guys are on the brink of being an economic superpower, why do you want to keep on messing with this? ... I think there is a moment where potentially we could get their attention. It won't be easy, but it's important." Obama also suggested in the interview that he had discussed the special envoy idea with former President Bill Clinton.

Whatever the case, the evidence that India was able to successfully lobby the Obama transition in the weeks before it took office to ensure Holbrooke's mission left them and Kashmir out is testament to both the sensitivity of the issue to India as well as the prowess and sophistication of its Washington political and lobbying operation.

"The Indians freaked out at talk of Bill Clinton being an envoy to Kashmir," said Daniel Markey, a South Asia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The reason they were so worried is they don't want their activities in Kashmir to be equated with what Pakistan is doing in Afghanistan."

"They [India] are the big fish [in the region]," Markey added. "They don't want to be grouped with the 'problem children' in the region, on Kashmir, on nuclear issues. They have a fairly effective lobbying machine. They have taken a lot of notes on the Israel model, and they have gotten better. But you don't want to overstate it. Some of the lobbying effort is obvious, done through companies, but a lot of it is direct government to government contact, people talking to each other. The Indian government and those around the Indian government made clear through a variety of channels because of the Clinton rumors and they came out to quickly shoot that down."

Once Holbrooke's name was floated, the Indian lobbying campaign became even more intense. "The Indians do not like Holbrooke because he has been very good on Pakistan... and has a very good feel for the place" said one former U.S. official on condition of anonymity. "The Indians have this town down."
Initially, when Obama's plans for a corps of special envoys became public after the election, The Cable was told, the idea was for a senior diplomat to tackle the Kashmir dispute as part of the South Asia envoy portfolio and whose mandate would include India. But soon after the election and Holbrooke's name began to appear, the Indians approached key transition officials to make clear that while they could not affect what the new administration did with respect to envoys, that they would expect no mediation on the Kashmir issue.

"I have suggested to others, though not directly to Dick [Holbrooke], that his title should not/not include India, precisely so that he would be freer to work with them," Zelikow said. "If you understand Indian politics, this paradox makes sense."

"I did nothing for the [Government of India] on this," Zelikow added. The Indian government "talked directly to folks on the [Obama] transition team and I heard about it from my Indian friends. I think Holbrooke needs to talk to the Indians. But they are trying, understandably, to break out of being in a hyphenated relationship with America (i.e., comprehended on a mental map called India-Pakistan)."

Other sources said India's hired lobbyists were deployed to shape the contours of the U.S. diplomatic mission. According to lobbying records filed with the Department of Justice, since 2005, the government of India has paid BGR about $2.5 million. BGR officials who currently work on the Indian account, who according to lobbying records include former Sen. Chuck Hagel aide Andrew Parasiliti, former U.S. State Department counterproliferation official Stephen Rademaker, former Bush I and Reagan era White House aide and BGR partner Ed Rogers, and former House Foreign Affairs committee staffer Walker Roberts, did not respond to messages left Friday by Foreign Policy. Former U.S. ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, who previously served as a lobbyist for India, left BGR in 2008 for the Rand Corporation. In addition, the Indian embassy in Washington has paid lobbying firm Patton Boggs $291,665 under a six-month contract that took effect Aug. 18, according to lobbying records.
"BGR has been a registered lobbyist for the Indian government since 2005," noted one Senate staffer on condition of anonymity. "The Indian government retained BGR for the primary purpose of pushing through the Congress the civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and India - hence the strategic hires of Bob Blackwill, the former U.S. Ambassador to India, and Walker Roberts, a senior staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee responsible for vetting past such agreements. BGR continues to actively lobby on behalf of the Indian government - their lobbyists sought to influence a recent Senate resolution on the Mumbai attacks. So I would be very surprised if BGR were NOT involved here."

(For its part, Pakistan has spent about $1,175,000, on lobbying during the past year, including on trade issues. That includes Dewey and LeBoeuf's work for the Ministry of Commerce, and Locke Lord's work for the Embassy of Pakistan and the Pakistan International Airlines Corp, according to lobbying records.)

It's not clear to experts and officials interviewed exactly who in the Obama transition team was contacted as part of the Indian lobbying effort. The White House did not respond to queries.

Asked about the decision to exclude India from the special envoy's official mandate, former NSC and CIA official Bruce Riedel, who served as the senior lead of the team advising the Obama campaign on South Asian issues, said by e-mail, "When Senator Clinton originally proposed the envoy idea in her campaign it was only for Afghanistan and Pakistan." He didn't respond to a further query questioning why Clinton's campaign comments on the issue mattered as much as Obama's, since, obviously, it was Obama who won the presidency and ultimately appointed her to carry out his foreign policy as the Obama administration's top diplomat.

UPDATE: An administration official responded that the transition met with no foreign governments and no representatives of foreign governments, pursuant to a policy laid out by the then President-Elect. He further said that it was never the intent for the South Asian envoy portfolio to include an Indian role.

 

[BATMAN]

India's special envoy anxiety, part II

At an off-the-record Aspen Strategy Group meeting held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C. in early December, a high-level delegation from India told American foreign policy experts -- including three officials who were part of the formal Obama transition team -- that India might preemptively make Richard Holbrooke persona non grata if his South Asia envoy mandate officially included India or Kashmir, people familiar with the meeting said.

Among the Obama transition figures who attended the meeting, held as part of the Aspen Institute's U.S. India Strategic Dialogue: former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig; Kurt Campbell, the director of the Aspen Strategy Group who is expected to be named assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs; and former Pentagon official Ashton Carter, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Such foreign-policy events occur throughout the city every week, of course, and it's certainly no surprise that top foreign-policy hands, including some who advised President Obama's campaign and his transition, were included.

But Obama administration officials have insisted to Foreign Policy that the Obama transition held no meetings with foreign governments or representatives of foreign governments at all during the transition. "The transition met with no foreign governments and no representatives of foreign governments pursuant to a policy laid out by the then President-Elect," one administration official said by e-mail. What's more, he said, in effect, they did not have to be influenced to exclude India from Holbrooke's official mission, because it was "not contemplated" for the South Asia envoy's portfolio to have an Indian role.

India's exclusion from the envisioned mission was not so obvious to everyone, however, including the Indians and several Washington South Asia hands. The New York Times' Mark Landler, moreover, reported Jan. 7 that Holbrooke would likely be named "a special envoy to Pakistan and India."
"The notion of an envoy on Kashmir or that would include Kashmir came up as soon as Obama mentioned it" in an October 2008 interview with Time, one Washington South Asia expert not associated with any of the campaigns and who did not attend the dialogue said on condition of anonymity. "It was widely discussed by the 50 key South Asia watchers."

And while the Obama transition may not have met with any foreign governments or representatives of foreign governments in any official capacity, foreign governments including India's did try to influence the future administration's policy decisions by working the phones, meeting with Obama transition figures at the margins of conferences, at Washington receptions, and through third parties.

"The message was clearly conveyed by India to the Transition and received," The Cable was told. "It led to a change in how Richard Holbrooke's mission was publicly described and unveiled."

The Obama people may be overly sensitive to the perception they were lobbied, suggested one person baffled by the new administration's insistence that no such contacts regarding South Asia occurred. "And then since the President-Elect said they were not meeting with any foreign government officials. [But] it seems unimportant to me," he said, referring to what he perceived as the Obama team's touchiness on this issue.

"There was a whole delegation of Indians who came through in early December through the Aspen dialogue," he said. "They were almost all former officials. They were interacting ... with people in various capacities, in addition to formal meetings inside the government. They were all over this - what Holbrooke's portfolio would be. The Indians were preemptively irate and were reacting in perhaps a disproportionate way" due to concerns that Holbrooke's mandate might officially include India or Kashmir.

The National Security Council did not respond to messages left by Foreign Policy. Campbell and Danzig did not immediately respond to messages. Carter e-mailed to say he only attended the lunch of the December U.S.-India dialogue.

 

[BATMAN]

Mr. Obama has not signed off on these positions, according to officials, Mrs. Clinton is likely to name Richard C. Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat who brokered the Dayton accord that brought peace to Bosnia, as a special envoy to Pakistan and India, said people who have been told of the decision.

 

[Hulk]

Good job India, not only this we also made sure he was not welcomed in India. Every country has to make sure they protect their interest.

 

[somebozo]

Good job India, not only this we also made sure he was not welcomed in India. Every country has to make sure they protect their interest.

Thanx for exposing Indian double standards on peace..its a good thing that we are opposing Indian involvement in Afghanistan.

 

[Ras]

Not sure what else Obama could have done..if the Indians would not meet Holbrooke or allow him into Kashmir, the administration and he personally would look stupid.

 

[ajtr]

Holbrooke and India: When irresistible force met immovable object​

WASHINGTON: The man who died of a ruptured aorta was famously credited with bursting blood vessels of many a player in the world diplomatic community. Richard Holbrooke, who passed away on Monday in Washington DC at the age of 69 from complications following a heart surgery, was variously described as feisty, abrasive, and high-octane by admirers and critics alike. His in-your-face style earned him the nickname " Raging Bull." Henry Kissinger, his forbear in the world of aggressive diplomacy, once advised someone, "If Richard calls you and asks you for something, just say yes. If you say no, you'll eventually get to yes, but the journey will be very painful."

But in the solid, stolid Indian government, Holbrooke, the irresistible force, met the immovable object. "New Delhi must have caused the ruptured aorta," was the feeble joke in the Indian analysts' community, as news of the death of this much-admired and often-feared man trickled through the diplomatic world. Some mandarins compared him to J.N.Dixit, India's former foreign secretary, who died less than a year into his role as the National Security Advisor, before he could leave his imprint on India's foreign policy, born from a capacious intellect and ceaseless learning.

Like "Mani" Dixit in South Block, Holbrooke too fell just short of the policy making pinnacle in Foggy Bottom. A life-long Democrat, friend and acolyte of the Clintons, he was tipped to be Secretary of State if Hillary reached the White House in 2008. But Obama went on to become president, and in a political masterstroke, he offered the job to Hillary, leaving Holbrooke short of a career goal that began when he signed up for the U.S foreign service in the early 60s.

In a sparkling career that lasted nearly half century, Holbrooke held almost every important job in Washington's diplomatic world, from serving as the U.S Permanent Representative to U.N to ambassador to Germany to two stints as assistant secretary. In between, during Republican dispensations, he was variously an investment banker, a magazine editor, and simply, a public intellectual. An internationalist, his expansive interests covered the globe, except for a small patch of geography that involved the sub-continent, although Indian mandarins had a few run-ins with him in Turtle Bay.

President Obama plugged that gap that when he appointed Holbrooke a special envoy to the ****** region. The scuttlebutt in Washington was that Holbrooke wanted India, including the vexing Kashmir issue, in his brief. The "Raging Bull" aka Bulldozer was famously credited with hammering together the Dayton peace accord (which his admirers felt should have earned him the Nobel Peace Prize). He believed that resolving the Afghan situation was linked to ending the tensions Pakistan had with India, and at the end of that rainbow (according to his fan club), lay a Nobel Prize.

But New Delhi, questioning the line of argument linking ****** to Kashmir, balked. The Obama administration was persuaded to keep Holbrooke's mandate restricted to ******, with the assurance that India would be happy to informally discuss its views on the region with him. For several months thereafter, Holbrooke tried to visit New Delhi, but there was always "scheduling problems" and the two sides struggled to find "mutually acceptable dates" – diplospeak for "you are not welcome just now."

In the meantime, private efforts were made to bring Holbrooke up to speed on regional history and its nuances. A fair-minded man of formidable intellect and voracious reading habits, he devoured books and films on the region – and the job was pretty much done.

When New Delhi finally consented to receive him in January this year, it was not the lion it expected, but a lamb. As Ambassador Timothy Roemer reported in his cable to Washington DC (disclosed by Wikileaks), Holbrooke, in his meeting with India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, "noted that he comes with a clear vision of the centrality of India to the strategic landscape in the region... He reiterated that his portfolio explicitly excludes India...Holbrooke assured Rao that he is in favor of Indian assistance programs in Afghanistan and is not influenced by what he hears in Islamabad."

Read more: Holbrooke and India: When irresistible force met immovable object - The Times of India Holbrooke and India: When irresistible force met immovable object - The Times of India

 

[ajtr]

A pall falls on S. Asia policy ​

K.P. NAYAR
Washington, Dec. 14: Call it coincidence if you like, but it was just like Richard Holbrooke to have been in the care of a Pakistani doctor during his final days at the George Washington University Hospital here.

Holbrooke died last night after a 21-hour unsuccessful heart surgery for a torn aorta. He was 69.

In the last nearly two years of his eventful life, Holbrooke was consumed by Pakistan. In his special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, US President Barack Obama had someone who sneered at the idea of a “half-way house”.

Holbrooke wanted to transform Afghanistan and Pakistan from failed states into robust outposts that would anchor American interests in South Asia.

Had he lived for the remaining two years of Obama’s presidency, the man whose style earned him sobriquets such as “the bulldozer”, may have travelled a considerable distance along that road with its inevitable impact on India.

J.N. Dixit, who was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first national security adviser, said in his last conversation with this correspondent that in six months, India and Pakistan would reach a solution on Kashmir. But three months after that conversation, Dixit was gone, leaving behind absolutely nothing on paper about what he was working on.

Nearly six years after Dixit’s death, another brilliant diplomat, this time an American who had a clear vision of what South Asia should look like — whether one liked it or not — is gone.

His departure is truly — at the risk of using a cliché — a tragedy for Obama’s South Asia policy.

After several false starts towards creating a recipe for the complex problems of the region during much of the two years of this presidency, clarity was finally emerging in Washington, with Holbrooke winning treacherous battles for control of how to deal with Obama’s most important strategic priority.

Obama’s visit to New Delhi had cemented the direction of this policy and Holbrooke was to build on it. But now he is gone, and once again, there are wide open questions about what to do with Afghanistan, Pakistan and by way of a consequential spillover, how to fit India into this conundrum.

India’s relations with Holbrooke were testy or worse to begin with. Indeed, predictably so even before he was formally appointed as Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, one of the early decisions made by this President.

It is a tribute to Holbrooke’s qualities as a diplomat, to his understanding of realpolitik — and to Indian diplomacy’s relatively new willingness to identify its core interests — that by the time Holbrooke died, his office and New Delhi’s key men dealing with Kabul and Islamabad had created an unprecedented and wide-ranging dialogue on Afghanistan.

S.K. Lambah, the Prime Minister’s special envoy for Afghanistan and “back channel” to Pakistan came to Washington in July for talks with the Americans for what was a new start, as Holbrooke belatedly took effective control of what is known here as Obama’s “Af-Pak” strategy. Lambah was here again last week, this time with institutional backing from South Block.

Holbrooke’s demise does not damage this process, but raises question marks about its effectiveness.

As about the only American diplomat — with the exception of Henry Kissinger — who has been an editor, academic, development official, author and investment banker, Holbrooke respected depth, range and vision both in his interlocutors and adversaries.

He reached out to foreign secretary Nirupama Rao every time she was in New York or Washington and their lively sparring is testified to by officials present on both sides.

When Lambah came to Washington in July, Holbrooke was still haunted by shadows of his failed plans for regime change in Kabul through the backdoor. His failed plan was to replace President Hamid Karzai with former World Bank official, Ashraf Ghani, who was Washington’s first choice, and later with Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

A key conspirator in this plot was Peter Galbraith, the UN’s second ranking representative in Kabul during the elections in which the US orchestrated a campaign against Karzai, accusing him of fraud.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon appointed Galbraith in Kabul on the express recommendation of Holbrooke. Karzai got the better of the Americans and managed to retain power.

By the time Lambah arrived in Washington, Holbrooke was reconciled to dealing with Karzai in his new term as President, but Washington kept harping about corruption and lack of democracy in Karzai’s Afghanistan.

Lambah had one question to which no one in Holbrooke’s team had an answer. Why were the Americans harping on democracy and corruption in Kabul when they were willing to put up with similar failings in the entire region — in Pakistan and in every single “-stan” in Central Asia?

The Pentagon is in bed with dictators in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, they are bending over backwards to protect their oil and gas interests in Turkmenistan, so why this public fuss about Karzai alone?

Holbrooke had great admiration for people who put pragmatism above everything else and he was one to set policy goals and doggedly toil to achieve them.

This was one of several episodes in Holbrooke’s recent engagement of India which changed Indo-US equations on Afghanistan and laid the foundation for Holbrooke’s work with New Delhi which could have been.

During the last US presidential primaries, Holbrooke threw his lot with Hillary Clinton and was mentioned as possible secretary of state in a Clinton administration. When she became secretary of state instead, Holbrooke was chosen for the most sensitive diplomatic job in the Obama administration.

But Holbrooke’s heart was on an expanded South Asia portfolio: deep down he hoped to repeat his biggest success as a diplomat in ending the war in the Balkans by trying his hand at resolving Kashmir.

The then Indian ambassador in Washington, Ronen Sen, told President-elect Obama’s transition team in Chicago that appointing Holbrooke as a special envoy to South Asia, including Kashmir, would be a non-starter.

Lambah, who attended a Track II Indo-US meeting during the transition said what Sen could not put in black and white owing to diplomatic correctness. Lambah said Holbrooke would be denied an Indian visa if he were to meddle in Kashmir.

Holbrooke believed till the end that there could be no solution to the problems in “Af-Pak” without including India. But it is a tribute to the man that he and Lambah became friends and created a working relationship. The question is whether that relationship will endure with Holbrooke’s successor.

 

[BATMAN]

Stop spamming with yellow journalism.

Lies Lies and nothing but Lies... this is how Indian media can be described best.

 

[ajtr]

Not sure what else Obama could have done..if the Indians would not meet Holbrooke or allow him into Kashmir, the administration and he personally would look stupid.

Two people who were most unwanted guests in india for last 2 years-Richard Holbrooke and Christine C.Fair.Richard Holbrooke always had scheudling problem with GOI and Christine C.Fair had visa related issues.She even once said something to the effect that i'm the most unwelcome guest in india.

 

[ajtr]

Stop spamming with yellow journalism.

Lies Lies and nothing but Lies... this is how Indian media can be described best.

since when orange media became yellow......

 

[TechLahore]

In contrast to India's reaction to the late Amb. Holbrooke:

» President confers Hilal-e-Pakistan upon Holbrooke
President confers Hilal-e-Pakistan upon Holbrooke
Submitted 1 day 10 hrs ago
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President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday visited the US Embassy to offer his condolences at the sad demise of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and lauded his services for Pakistan. While recording his message in the condolence book, the President said, “Pakistanis, like many other around the world, mourn the death of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, a great intellect and force for good, a personal friend of Pakistan, my wife Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and myself.” “His untiring efforts to enhance US-Pakistan relations and his assistance during the Swat crisis and the devastating flood that have affected Pakistan will never be forgotten,” he observed. The President also announced conferment of Hilal-e-Pakistan upon Ambassador Richard Holbrooke posthumously for his meritorious services to strengthen Pak-US bilateral relations. The President also gave the US Ambassador a letter for Mrs. Richard Holbrooke. The President was received at the US Embassy by Cameron P.Munter, US ambassador in Pakistan.

 

[BATMAN]

Holbrooke was in touch with Kashmir stake holders: Mirwaiz

Srinagar: Dec 16 In a sensational disclosure, Hurriyat chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today said that the deceased American representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke was in touch with Kashmiri leadership. He, however, refused to elaborate on the issue.
“Holbrooke was active on Kashmir and had established contacts with stakeholders on both sides of the Line of Control. He set forth the formulation that peace in Afghanistan will come through Kashmir, though there was stiff opposition from India to the mention of K-word in his agenda paper,” said the Mirwaiz.
He expressed hope that the new envoy, replacing Holbrooke, would continue the work.
"In fact, we feel that there is a need for appointing a special representative for Kashmir so that the issue is resolved expeditiously," he said.
Rejecting a solution within the present framework, Mirwaiz on Thursday called for a comprehensive dialogue between the three parties to the Kashmir issue to arrive at a negotiated settlement.
"Time has come for India, Pakistan and representatives of Jammu and Kashmir to thrash out a negotiated settlement to Kashmir issue," Mirwaiz told reporters here.
He, however, said a solution to Kashmir issue within the present frame work was not possible and the right to self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir was non-negotiable.
The Mirwaiz was responding to a question about the statement of veteran journalist and Centre's interlocutor on Kashmir Dilip Padgaonkar in which he had reportedly said PDP's self-rule formula could be one of the solutions to Kashmir issue.
About the apparent change in China's policy over stapled visa for residents of Jammu and Kashmir, he claimed that it did not affect the "disputed" nature of the state.
"Whatever the issues between India and China, the international community is keen on impressing New Delhi and Islamabad to engage in resolving the Kashmir issue," he said.
In response to another question, the Mirwaiz said there was nothing to be surprised in the police claim that detained separatist leader Massarat Alam had taken money to fuel unrest in the Valley.
"JK police has issued many statements over the past 20 years and everyone knows where its reputation stands. It is only to malign the people's movement," he said.
He also said the government and its agencies were trying very hard to portray the mass upheaval as a struggle for monetary gains which was evident from the job packages announced by it.
"The government should come out of the denial mode and accept that none of the over 100 persons killed this summer was out on streets for monetary gains," he said.
The Mirwaiz said he will offer Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid tomorrow even if the government imposes curbs on his movement. The government cannot stop me from following my religion. We will offer prayers," he said.

 

[shuntmaster]

India did what was best for itself, and succeeded.

 

[TechLahore]

^^ Succeeded with what? Your post is quite confusing and can imply all sorts of things.