Proof of Indian meddling not provided: US

[jeypore]

WASHINGTON: Pakistan raised the issue of India’s involvement in Balochistan with the US, but provided no credible evidence to support their claim, says America’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

‘I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if Pakistan brought up this issue during his visit to the country last week.

Responding to the second part of the question — ‘if Pakistan also gave credible evidence to support its claim’ — Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The narrow answer to your question is no.’

Pakistan raised this issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well at a bilateral meeting in Egypt on July 16.

On Wednesday, Mr Singh defended the inclusion of Balochistan in an India-Pakistan joint statement issued after the meeting but said he received no dossier from his Pakistani counterpart on India’s alleged involvement.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Pakistan linked its action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba with New Delhi ending its covert operations in Balochistan.

The report said that in conversations with the Obama administration, Pakistan’s army chief indicated that India needed to stop meddling in Balochistan in return for Pakistan’s actions against the Lashkar.

At his briefing in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Holbrooke also refused to discuss occupied Kashmir, saying that it was outside his area of responsibility.

‘That issue is outside my area of ability to discuss,’ he said when asked to what extent the resolution of the Kashmir issue would help him in achieving the US goal to dismantle, disrupt and defeat the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive, saying that it was unclear if the military had defeated the Taliban in the region or simply driven them underground.

‘We don’t know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy,’ he told his first media briefing after his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan last week. ‘The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we’re just going to have to wait and see.’

Mr Holbrooke said that during his trip he wanted to visit Swat as well but the Pakistani military advised him not to do so now.

‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said.

‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’

Mr Holbrooke, however, said the US was in constant touch with Pakistan to help it deal with any spill-over effect of stepped-up operations by international forces on the Afghan side.

He said that top US military commanders in Afghanistan often visited Pakistan to discuss the issue. ‘So the military-to-military discussions are helping to harmonise the situation’ in the area, he said.

The purpose of these consultations, he said, was to alert Islamabad of any movement of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Mr Holbrooke urged the international community to provide sustained economic support to Pakistan so that it could deal with the problem of the Swat refugees and the economic and energy crises.

‘Pakistan is critically important to the rest of the world’ and could not be ignored.

Secondly, he said, what happened in Pakistan affected Afghanistan.

Mr Holbrooke also praised the Pakistani leadership for shifting some of its forces stationed along its eastern border with India to the western frontier bordering Afghanistan to fight out Taliban and Al Qaeda.

‘The Pakistanis have moved a very large number of troops from their eastern border to their western border. That’s a historically significant redeployment,’ he said.

DAWN.COM | World | Proof of Indian meddling not provided: US

 

[jeet]

They will never be able to give any proof.

 

[s90]

Holbrooke is special envoy to Pakistan-Afghanistan not Pakistan-India.

 

[pmukherjee]

WASHINGTON: Pakistan raised the issue of India’s involvement in Balochistan with the US, but provided no credible evidence to support their claim, says America’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

‘I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if Pakistan brought up this issue during his visit to the country last week.

Responding to the second part of the question — ‘if Pakistan also gave credible evidence to support its claim’ — Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The narrow answer to your question is no.’

Pakistan raised this issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well at a bilateral meeting in Egypt on July 16.

On Wednesday, Mr Singh defended the inclusion of Balochistan in an India-Pakistan joint statement issued after the meeting but said he received no dossier from his Pakistani counterpart on India’s alleged involvement.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Pakistan linked its action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba with New Delhi ending its covert operations in Balochistan.

The report said that in conversations with the Obama administration, Pakistan’s army chief indicated that India needed to stop meddling in Balochistan in return for Pakistan’s actions against the Lashkar.

At his briefing in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Holbrooke also refused to discuss occupied Kashmir, saying that it was outside his area of responsibility.

‘That issue is outside my area of ability to discuss,’ he said when asked to what extent the resolution of the Kashmir issue would help him in achieving the US goal to dismantle, disrupt and defeat the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive, saying that it was unclear if the military had defeated the Taliban in the region or simply driven them underground.

‘We don’t know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy,’ he told his first media briefing after his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan last week. ‘The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we’re just going to have to wait and see.’

Mr Holbrooke said that during his trip he wanted to visit Swat as well but the Pakistani military advised him not to do so now.

‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said.

‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’

Mr Holbrooke, however, said the US was in constant touch with Pakistan to help it deal with any spill-over effect of stepped-up operations by international forces on the Afghan side.

He said that top US military commanders in Afghanistan often visited Pakistan to discuss the issue. ‘So the military-to-military discussions are helping to harmonise the situation’ in the area, he said.

The purpose of these consultations, he said, was to alert Islamabad of any movement of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Mr Holbrooke urged the international community to provide sustained economic support to Pakistan so that it could deal with the problem of the Swat refugees and the economic and energy crises.

‘Pakistan is critically important to the rest of the world’ and could not be ignored.

Secondly, he said, what happened in Pakistan affected Afghanistan.

Mr Holbrooke also praised the Pakistani leadership for shifting some of its forces stationed along its eastern border with India to the western frontier bordering Afghanistan to fight out Taliban and Al Qaeda.

‘The Pakistanis have moved a very large number of troops from their eastern border to their western border. That’s a historically significant redeployment,’ he said.

DAWN.COM | World | Proof of Indian meddling not provided: US

Jeypore
Hi, USA is faced with an unique problem in AFPAK. The US knows that its presence in the region in its current strength and dimension is transient at best. The US also knows that the others also know this. For this reason, it has a very limited mandate in AFPAK, to reduce the potency of Al Quaida to such levels wherein it loses its capabilities of launching major strikes on US mainland. The aim also is to ensure denial of safe havens to Al Quaida in its traditional strongholds in Afghanistan. The Al Quaida has a functional understanding with the Taliban which helps it exist in Afghanistan and hide away in Pakistan. Therefore, the Taliban has to be decimated to levels where it loses its ability to destabilise its environment, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A stable non-Taliban government in Afghanistan which has the approval of most if not all the big players in the region(including Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India) and a Pakistan relatively free of Taliban with most Al Quaida leaders dead will do the trick. This is a tall order. But this is all they can possibly hope to achieve. Other problems in the area which do not have the danger of exploding on the streets of New York or San Fransisco are really not America's concern. To sort out every thing that is wrong in the area, USA will have to stick around for the next two decades which it does not want to do.

 

[DAVE01]

Holbrooke is special envoy to Pakistan-Afghanistan not Pakistan-India.

My my chit bhi meri aur pat bhi meri. If he say anything againt india then is ok otherwise just for pakistan-afghanistan envoy

 

[s90]

My my chit bhi meri aur pat bhi meri. If he say anything againt india then is ok otherwise just for pakistan-afghanistan envoy

He never said anything against India till now as far as i know.

 

[SSGPA1]

Very good diplomatic work from India. We need to keep in mind also that the intention of the US govt. is not to embarrass India.

There will be some public discussions because the Indian PM accepted to add Balochistan in the joint statement.

 

[jeypore]

Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive

So Mr. holbrooke is requesting to see the SWAT valley himself, the response from GoP is

‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said.

‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’

So, I have a question, what is the big secreat? If the GoP is claiming fanastic number in fighting the taliban, would it be helpful to show the American's the results, and likewise the US would intensify the perks to Pakistan.