How does the US (United States) plan to deal with India and Pakistan over Afghanistan? According to the US Department of State (in its annual financial report) has declared that the new Trump administration is exploring new approach with India and Pakistan for formulating peace and conciliation in Afghanistan.
How India Won Bangladesh and Lost Kashmir in 1971: Kashmir Dispute
State Department Inspector General Steve A. Linick said the new strategy attempts to target and destroy safe havens to the terrorist organizations in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
Role of India and Pakistan in Afghanistan
“Our plan for South Asia and especially Afghanistan is to explore new engagement with India and Pakistan and deny safe havens to terrorist organizations,” said Linick. The foremost objective of this new strategy was to “create the conditions for settlement with the Taliban and a process that assists the Afghanistan government in giving security for their own people”, added Linick.
The 160-page annual report evaluates the most serious management and performance challenges faced by the US State Department and assesses the department’s performance in addressing those challenges, both administratively and financially.
The new approach also includes political pressure, reduction of financial aid and setting condition for relations between Pakistan and the US. The Afghan government has welcomed the new approach adopted by US. “What we think is that the United States must put immense pressure on Pakistan to force Islamabad to take effective steps,” said Afghan Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Sibghat Ahmadi.
But how India and Pakistan will be able to help the government in Kabul in its attempts at reviving peace in the war-ravaged nation, questioned the Afghan analysts. “India is anticipated to increase its cooperation with the US for the betterment of Afghanistan, while Pakistan would be presumed to stay alongside the US without collaborating with the Taliban,” said a political analyst.
Afghan President Ghani Refuses to join CPEC, without Access to India
The report details ongoing difficulties in monitoring and overseeing the anti-terrorism assistance program in Pakistan. Based on the report, the State Department has no staff in Pakistan which can establish satisfying contractor performance or observe whether required reports are submitted. The report criticized the US mission’s security policies which restrain staff travel in the country, thus making it challenging to meet and keep in touch with all the connections in Pakistan.
In August 2017, the US president Donald Trump sketched his new war policy involving Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan and blamed Islamabad of providing safe havens to the Afghan Taliban and sheltering what he described it as agents of chaos.
