New Delhi, April 06: The US is reportedly pushing India to normalise ties with Pakistan, without which it feels the latter’s cooperation over Afghanistan would suffer.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday claimed that President Barack Obama had issued a secret directive in December to intensify American diplomacy aimed at easing tensions between India and Pakistan.
The Obama administration’s assertion is that without a détente between the two rivals, its efforts to win Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan would suffer, the daily reported.
In an article titled ‘ US Aims to Ease India- Pakistan Tension’, the journal wrote: “ The directive concluded that India must make resolving tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on US goals in the region, according to people familiar with its contents.” However, the government has repeatedly denied it is under US or any international pressure to resume talks.
The paper, quoting unnamed US and Indian officials, wrote that the Pentagon was actively lobbying for more pressure on India, with some officials informally pressing Indian officials to take “ Pakistan’s concerns” more seriously.
“ Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has been among the more vocal advocates of a greater Indian role, according to a US military official, encouraging New Delhi to be more ‘ transparent’ about its activities along the countries’ shared border and to cooperate more with Pakistan,” the journal reported.
However, it notes that a debate continues within the administration over how hard to push India, which has long resisted outside intervention in the conflict with its neighbour.
“ Current and former US officials said the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as Pakistan ratchets up requests that the US intercede in a series of continuing disputes,” the journal wrote.
But there seems to be a disconnect between the Pentagon and the state department.
The journal stressed that the state department has resisted moves to pressure India, insisting they could backfire.
Quoting a US government official, the journal has written that Pakistan presented a 56- page dossier to the Obama administration ahead of the strategic dialogue that contained a “ litany of accusations against the Indian government, and suggestions that the US intercede on Pakistan’s behalf”. However, US and Indian officials say the Obama administration has so far made few concrete demands of New Delhi.
According to US officials, the only specific request has been to discourage India from getting more involved in training the Afghan military to ease Pakistani concerns about getting squeezed by India on its two borders, according to the journal.
New Delhi claims that it could expand the training programme for Afghan Army officers on Indian soil if Kabul makes such a request.
—Agencies