Kashmir: Holbrooke's silent "K" in his portfolio

Posted on 04 February 2009. Tags: Kashmir

A rose by any other name is still a rose. The first title of Mr. Holbrooke was envoy for India and Pakistan. Then it became “envoy for Pakistan, Afghanistan and special projects”. Then it became envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. The term used by the CIA and the State Department is “Plausible Deniability“. Mr. Holbrooke is the envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. So why is he visiting India? The more they deny that he will be discussing Kashmir, the more it becomes apparent that he will be discussing Kashmir with Delhi. It is obvious.

Kashmir map: Kashmir is part of Pakistan. The green area is the Pakistani province of "Gilgit Baltistan" (formerly known as Northern Areas which was liberated in 1948). Below the liberated Northern Areas is Azad Kashmir (liberated from Bharati occupation in 1948). The blue area is Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Delhi already rankled by the original moniker, and irked by the provocative statements on Kashmir by UK envoy David Milliband will surely be suspicious by the visit of Mr. Holbrooke whose first visit includes Delhi on the itinerary.

Kashmir remains internationalized as ever.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Special envoy Richard Holbrooke will add a stop in India to his south Asia tour next week as part of efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, an Obama administration priority, US officials said Wednesday.

In addition to visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan, Holbrooke will travel to India to hear ideas about how to stabilize Afghanistan, but he will not mediate the conflict in Kashmir, State Department officials said.

“His portfolio is to deal with Afghanistan-Pakistan, and he’s going to India because India is an important player in that region,” department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. “Kashmir was never part of his portfolio.”

US media had reported Indian fears that Holbrooke would pressure India to resolve the conflict — over which two wars with Pakistan have been fought — in order to free Pakistan up to stabilize its border with Afghanistan.

“India is an important country in the region and has interest in Afghanistan,” Wood said.

“And he wants to hear from the Indian government in terms of how we can all better contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he added.

“In essence this is an orientation trip,” said Wood after Holbrooke briefed him on his plans.AFP: Holbrooke adds India to Pakistan, Afghanistan trip

Map of Kashmir Showing the river flow from Kashmir and beyond

The US has an ambassador in Delhi. It has a Secretary of State. It the under Secretary of State and the State Department has a South Asia desk dealing with South Asian Affairs. It also has a host of other key level foreign policy experts. Why would the envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan visit India?

“He’s not carrying any messages to any of these governments from either the secretary or the president. And he’s not going there to lecture, he’s going there to listen,” he added.

“And then he will report back to the secretary and the president.

Wood did not say whether Holbrooke would pursue US efforts to encourage Pakistan to cooperate more with the probe into the November attacks on Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in which 10 gunmen killed 165 people.

India has handed the Pakistan government what it said was evidence linking “elements” in Pakistan to the militants.

Wood said Holbrooke is traveling first to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, which begins Friday and ends at the weekend, but he gave no dates for his south Asia tour except to say he will visit Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in that order.

In Munich, Holbrooke will join Vice President Joseph Biden.

At the security conference last year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who stayed on in Obama’s administration, warned disputes over Afghanistan risked turning NATO into a “two-tier” alliance of nations ready to fight and those which will not.

Afghanistan is likely to feature prominently this year, with the Obama administration expected to ask European allies to join the United States in sending more troops to the war, given deteriorating security conditions.

Holbrooke, 68, has a reputation as a hard-nosed diplomat best known for brokering the 1995 peace agreement that ended three years of war in Bosnia. AFP: Holbrooke adds India to Pakistan, Afghanistan trip

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