Af-Pak, terror on Clinton’s agenda

The Barack Obama administration was waiting for the general election to get over before beginning serious engagement with India. With the polls out of the way and a new external affairs minister in place, preliminary planning for secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit in July is on. The dates for the visit are, however, yet to be decided.

Early next month, undersecretary of state Bill Burns will be in New Delhi to discuss with Indian leaders the big-ticket issues that will come up during Clinton’s visit. First on the agenda will be Washington’s Af-Pak policy. While India is supportive of America’s attempt to get Islamabad to act against the growing clout of the Taliban, New Delhi’s main concern is outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which are engaged in carrying out terror strikes on Indian targets.

New Delhi also wants the Obama administration to make Pakistan co-operate in investigations into 26/11. Indian officials say Pakistan is not sincere about helping the case. “There is some difference of approach to terrorism (affecting) India and the US,” an official said.

But while the US may put pressure on Pakistan at India’s behest, Washington will also try to placate Pakistan by bringing up Kashmir, which the Pakistan army claims is taking its attention away from the war against the Taliban in the country’s northwest.

Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari has time and again called for renewal of composite dialogue with India. But India cannot afford to pick up the threads of the dialogue which came to a halt after the Mumbai carnage. The public outrage after 26/11 will not allow prime minister Manmohan Singh to get back to the negotiating table without first seeing some action against terrorist groups in Pakistan.

The Indo-US engagement, however, goes beyond terror. The two countries now have strategic ties that both want to nurture. In fact, when external affairs minister SM Krishna met reporters last week, he stressed the importance of the strategic ties India has with several countries. First on the list was the US.