IndiaPost.com - Joint strategy to tackle Pakistan

India Post News Service

NEW DELHI: Prominent speakers from the United States and India have called for internationalizing counter-terrorism efforts in South Asia as they felt the primary threat from terrorism has moved here from West Asia. They voiced concern at current uncertainty in Pakistan and called upon the US government to hold top level talks with India on the role of Pakistan especially with regard to Taliban.

Addressing a special session at the conference on 'US-India Ties in the Asian Context' organized by CII and The Heritage Foundation, Ambassador Robert D Blackwill, former US Ambassador to India and Senior Fellow, Rand Corporation, referred to the dangerous situation in Pakistan, "where the government appears to have lost all interest in governance."

He was in favor of a joint Indo-US strategy to deal with Pakistan's role in terrorism. According to Ambassador Blackwill, the US government must consider a greater role for India in Afghanistan, considering New Delhi's strong historical and traditional links with that country. In fact, he advocated a greater dialogue between Washington and New Delhi on issues relating to West Asia, including on the Israel-Palestine issue, Syria and even Lebanon.

"This was necessary as in the coming days, India's sphere of influence would extend to these areas and also because of the strong historical ties that India has had with the region as whole." Blackwill felt the major issues between the US and Indian government included combating international terrorism, the rise of China, and promoting energy security, among others. Lexington Security Group President Michael A Sheehan said that the primary threat for counter-terrorism is no longer from the Middle-East but from South Asia today.

He said that with Al Qaeda becoming an international group with local linkages, "counter-terrorism efforts have to be internationalized." He said that there is linkage between local insurgencies and global terrorism. Sheehan also spoke about the importance of 'intelligence' in counter-terrorism efforts. He stated that as "intelligence is limited by national boundaries," a nation's political concerns and strategic issues play an important role. As a result, he added, "what we call intelligence sharing is more like intelligence trading."

As local insurgencies have linked with global terrorism, this has muddied the waters immensely, he said. "Tackling the root causes of terrorism is a long-term objective while in the short-term counter-terrorism is the only answer," he said. Nations need to come together and make efforts to protect passing of weapons of mass destruction into the hands of the terrorists, he said. On the rise of China, Ambassador Blackwill pointed out that Beijing was a long-term strategic challenge to both the US and India.

Accepting that India was playing an increasingly important role in South Asia, he said that it was important that the US enabled New Delhi to have strong and effective blue water navy, including aircraft carriers. On the continuing stalemate between Iran and the US on the nuclear issue, Ambassador Blackwill said that given the strong historical links between India and Iran, it would benefit the US if it considered India's views.

The Ambassador pointed out that relations between the US and Russia were on the decline and this could lead to improved relations between Moscow and Beijing. This, he said, was certainly not in the US' interests. Here, New Delhi could play an important role given its traditionally strong ties with Russia and its improving relations with the US. Edwin Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation, emphasized the increasingly important role that India was playing, especially in the South Asian context.

He said that the coming years would see the partnership between India and the US touching new levels. Apart from increasing economic relations, he visualized relations between the two countries improving in areas like defense ties, counter-terrorism and the larger Indian Ocean security. "India's growth is a positive development for not only the Asian region but for all democracies. But we need to examine new ideas and policies overcoming our differences in perceptions and policies," he added. Lt Gen Deepak Summanwar, former Director-General of Military Intelligence, Government of India, said that open, democratic nations like India and the United States are at maximum risk so far as terrorist threats are concerned.

"Different regions have different terrorism characteristics," he said and added that this has to be understood while taking counter-terrorism efforts. "Terrorism is today international in character, united by religious dogmas and linked with local units," Lt Gen Summanwar said. Observing that terrorists' main aim is to strike fear, "they strike in highly populated areas." He said that it has been seen that "the attack site turns virtually into a war zone in terms of mayhem created and within hours returns to normalcy." Counter-terrorism forces have adapt to this peculiar situation. "We have to try and eliminate international support for local units through political dialogue and the media has to help in this cause by not lionizing a terrorist leader," he said.

This will help in winning the battle for the minds of the people during counter-terrorism efforts. Security Analyst and former Director of Indian Defense Studies and Analyses Cmdr Uday Bhaskar stressed that India and the US have to revert to and reconcile with past experiences to indulge in any meaningful cooperation. "We have to revisit our respective terrorist narratives to reconcile with past experiences that were bitter before 9/11," Cmdr Uday Bhaskar said. "Fighting terrorism is a long haul and in that context discourse and narrative are very important," he reiterated. Ambassador SK Lambah, Special Envoy of the Prime Minister, said the time is right for taking Indo-US ties to new heights, especially in the strategic context of the Indian Ocean region. He said that the Indian Ocean region was of critical economic importance.

"Today, a major part of all global trade moved through the Indian Ocean and India's location was such that it could play a major role." He said that the need of the hour was to enhance cooperation between India and the US, especially in today's scenario of increasing international terrorism, maritime security and international trade. Ambassador Lambah said that given the strong performance of the Indian economy in recent years, it was an opportune time to given a new impetus to Indo-US bilateral ties.

"The US must treat India as partner and not as an ally. Also, the increasing perception of some policy-thinkers to use New Delhi as counterweight to China was not correct." India's strategic relations with other countries, like Iran and Russia, should be used against it as a condition for furthering Indo-US ties. Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former Ambassador of India to Afghanistan Vivek Katju detailed efforts being made by India in forming regional and bilateral groups to discuss and make counter-terrorism efforts effective. "India has formed joint working groups with 25 nations," he informed.

"One thing I want to make clear," he stressed, "is that religion has never been an issue in combating terrorism." Katju pointed out at differences over definition of terrorism and said, "We cannot think in terms of good and bad terrorism and such policies should never be pursued." Ms Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, who chaired the session, said the US and India have in the past failed to cooperate fully in counter-terrorism efforts. "We should not mix past with the present and should find ways to improve counter-terrorism efforts", she said.