SWEATING IT OUT IN KASHMIR :

New Delhi dons warpaint for US envoy (Saurabh Shukla, May 17, 2002, Hindustan Times)

In meetings on Friday with National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, Blackwill was told the US had failed to fulfil promises to restrain Pakistan from supporting terrorism. India, therefore, would take "appropriate action". A similar message was given to US Secretary of State Colin Powell when he spoke to Singh earlier.

Blackwill's assurances that the US saw the fight against Kashmir militancy as part of the global war on terrorism received a sceptical response. India said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had done nothing concrete to rein in terrorists — despite US promises to the contrary. India showed evidence that cross-border terrorism had increased after Pakistan pledged to fight terror. Blackwill's request for more time to get Pakistan to comply was rejected.

Blackwill expressed US President George W Bush's concerns about tensions escalating into a full-scale war. India, he was told, would not take rash decisions but as a sovereign country it reserved the right to act on its security needs. India was urged not to break diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

I've been reading Ted Rall's book on the War in Afghanistan. Though otherwise execrable, he does seem to know the region, and he says that many al Qaeda and other radicals fled into Pakistan. If that's true, an Indian-Pakistani War might give us the cover we need to pursue these terror cells. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 19, 2002 8:43 AM