By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke says India was not formally part of his mandate, but he considered India as centrally important for America’s success in the Af-Pak region.
“I want to be sure that everyone here recognises how centrally important India will be to this (the US success in Afghanistan and Pakistan),” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday at a hearing on “Civilian strategy for Afghanistan” ahead of the London conference on Afghanistan Jan 28.
“India is not formally part of my mandate, but with the support of the Indians, I try to go to New Delhi as often as I can to keep them informed and to discuss the situation with them,” said Holbrooke, who was recently in India to have discussions with the Indian leadership on the Af-Pak issue.
The State Department Thursday also released the US civilian strategy for the Af-Pak region proposing to engage Russia, China and India this year as it tries to bring stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“In 2010, we will build on bilateral discussions with Russia, China, India, and Afghanistan’s neighbours,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton releasing the strategy detailed in a 39-page report prepared by Holbrooke and his staff.
“Our regional diplomacy is expanding, with a sharpened focus on shifting the calculus of Afghanistan’s neighbours from competition in Afghanistan to cooperation and economic integration,” she said.
The US objectives, Clinton said “are shared by the people and governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and by people around the world, from Europe to Australia, from Russia to China to India, and across the Middle East where Muslim countries face a common threat from Al Qaeda.”
Asserting that she had “made it a top priority to elevate the role of diplomacy and development alongside defence in our national security strategy,” Clinton said: “Nowhere is this more urgent than in our efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”