Barack Obama has been told to refrain from promoting the idea of direct US mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir by senior American analysts, who say such move could backfire.
WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama has been told to refrain from promoting the idea of direct US mediation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir by senior American analysts, who say any such move could "backfire."
Such a mediation "could backfire by raising unrealistic expectations for a favourable settlement among Pakistanis, thereby fuelling Islamabad's support for militants in hopes of pushing a hard-line agenda," analysts Lisa Curtis and Walter Lohman in a piece titled "Stiffening Pakistan's Resolve Against Terrorism: A Memo to President-elect Obama".
"Your recent assertion that the US should try to help resolve the Kashmir issue so that Pakistan can focus on reining in militancy on its Afghan border is misguided," they
told Obama who will be sworn in as the 44th US president in January 20th.
Former President Gen Pervez Musharraf initiated the Kargil incursion into Kashmir in 1999 precisely to raise the profile of the Kashmir issue and encourage international
mediation, they said in this context.
They said developing an effective policy toward Pakistan will be one of the most immediate challenges facing the Obama's administration.
"During the campaign, you (Obama) rightly pledged to support Pakistan's nascent democratic government and to convince the military establishment to shift its focus away
from India and toward militants within Pakistan's own borders that threaten to destabilise the country," they said.
The duo asked Obama to convince the Pakistani military leadership that Pakistan's national security interests are no longer served by supporting extremists, whether they operate in Afghanistan or India.
"Convincing Pakistan to make fundamental shifts in its security perceptions of the region will be difficult. But over the long run, the US will be more successful in defeating the
international terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan if it works in cooperation with the Pakistani leadership and engages in respectful dialogue that acknowledges Pakistan's regional security concerns," Curtis and Lohman said.
Observing that the US cannot afford to see Pakistan fail, nor can it ignore the extremists operating in Pakistan's tribal border areas, they asked the new administration to
"convince skeptical Pakistanis that fighting terrorism is in their own country's national security interest."
The authors have said that to secure US interests vis--vis Pakistan, the Obama administration should pursue closer US-Pakistan military cooperation along the Afghanistan border and convince the Pakistani military leadership to sever all links to violent extremist groups, whether they operate in Afghanistan or India.
The core of a new, coalition-based approach to Pakistan should include a recognition that events in Pakistan present a threat to global security. The international community wants to assist Pakistan in its battle with extremism and help it achieve political and economic stability, they said.
"... Appointing a senior South Asia envoy would demonstrate that the US is stepping up its regional diplomatic efforts to supplement its military operations in an effort to
bring stability and security to Afghanistan," they added.
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