The US has been asking Bharat (aka India) to scale back its operations in Afghanistan. US to Delhi: Shut down Indian “Consulates” in Afghanistan– aftermath of RAW bombing of Peshawar hotel. A news story in the Hindu is now reporting the fact that General McChrystal is scared that Bharat’s increasing involvement in Kabul is jeopardising the US war in Afghanistan.

The latest US polls are reflecting the American mood. Any impediment to a speedy end to the war will be seen as contrary to US interests. Bharat is now seen as a nuisance in Afghanistan which creates Pakistani countermeasures–anathema to peace in the Hindu Kush. 66% of Republicans think that the US must win in Afghanistan. 57% of Republicans do not want an increase in US forces in Afghanistan. A point where Kennedy’s war became Johnson’s war. Now Johnson’s war became Nixon’s war. Bush’s war has now become Obama’s war.

General Stanley Mcchrystal

General McChrystal wants a lot of more troops in Afghanistan–in order to wage an anti-insurgency campaign. President Obama on the other hand wants to limit the scope of the war in the Khyber to anti-Al Qaeda operations. He has not approved the additional troops.

• In the clearest statement to date of Washington’s reservations about the rising Indian economic and political profile in Afghanistan
• General Stanley A. McChrystal said the situation there is “serious” and “deteriorating”.
• Increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India”.

In the clearest statement to date of Washington’s reservations about the rising Indian economic and political profile in Afghanistan, the top American general in charge of the war against the Taliban and other insurgents there has said India’s increasing influence in the insurgency-wracked country “is likely to exacerbate regional tensions”.

In his ‘Commander’s Initial Assessment’ on the war in Afghanistan dated August 30, made public on Sunday, General Stanley A. McChrystal said the situation there is “serious” and “deteriorating”. Though a significant section of his report emphasises the need for a change in U.S. strategy and the way U.S. forces deployed there “think and operate”, the section on “external influences” is likely to grate on New Delhi’s ears because of its implication that India ought to scale back its presence in order to placate Pakistani fears about growing Indian influence.

“Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan, including significant development efforts and financial investment. In addition, the current Afghan government is perceived by Islamabad to be pro-Indian”, the McChrystal report notes. But it adds: “While Indian activities largely benefit the Afghan people, increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India”.

14 Bharati "Consulates" are RAW terror centers spreading sabotage across the border in Pakistan

India has extended more than $1 billion to Afghanistan in financial and development assistance and is training the Afghan police force and bureaucracy. In recent years, it has been asked by key European countries like Britain and France to step up its assistance even as the U.S. has warned of a negative reaction by Pakistan.

The coy phrase ‘countermeasures’ in the McChrystal report is clearly a reference to Pakistan stepping up its funding of anti-Indian and anti-Afghan (and thus anti-U.S.) insurgent groups and terrorists.

However, in its section on Pakistan, the report only says that insurgent and violent extremist groups based in that country “are reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI”, an assessment far less categorical than what U.S. officials and military commanders have said before in public and private. The report zeroes in on Al-Qaeda’s links to the Haqqani network (HQN) inside Pakistan and says “expanded HQN control could create a favourable environment for AQAM to re-establish safe-havens in Afghanistan”.

The HQN is believed to be behind the bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul in 2007 and the recent assassination of Afghanistan’s deputy chief of intelligence, Abdullah Laghmani, and is widely suspected of enjoying the patronage of the ISI.

Though the McChrystal report falls short of prescribing that India scale back its presence in Afghanistan, the implication is clear: the U.S. is dependent on Pakistani support for the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s capacity to use extremists to hurt American interests remains high, and that India should realise its assistance to Afghanistan might provoke Islamabad into taking “countermeasures”.

Gen. McChrystal calls for additional U.S. forces but says “focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely ? Success is achievable, but it will not be attained simply by trying harder or ‘doubling down’ on the previous strategy”.

In line with the Pentagon’s view of the damage that mounting civilian casualties have had on the image of the U.S. and Nato forces in Afghanistan, the McChrystal report squarely admits that “pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us — physically and psychologically — from the people we seek to protect. In addition, we run the risk of strategic defeat by pursuing tactical wins that cause civilian casualties or unnecessary collateral damage. The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves”. The Hindu. U.S. sees rising Indian influence in Afghanistan as problem Siddharth Varadarajan

Senior US diplomat William Burns gave Indian officials a terse and cryptic directive on Thursday.  ”Shut down Indian Consulates in Afghanistan, reduce presence in Kabul and stop sending mercenaries across the Durand Line.” This message was supplemented with a letter from President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The message in the letter was the same. India has few options now. It can accept the US diktat or it can defy it.

If Delhi defies American warnings and polite talk, then NATO and ISAF will stop providing the necessary security to the nest of spies and saboteurs known as “Consulates”. Rupee News broke the news about the letter from Presidetn Barack Obama before Indian agencies began reporting the frank and blunt message.

A US diplomat has handed India a letter from US President Barack Obama about US-Indian ties that also touched on efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan, US officials said Wednesday. Envoy Richard Holbrooke, briefing reporters on his own visit to Pakistan and Gulf Arab states last week, said US diplomat William Burns delivered the letter after arriving in Delhi overnight Tuesday but declined to divulge its contents. “This administration believes that what happens in Afghanistan and Pakistan is of vital interest to our national security, and … that India is a country that we must keep in closest consultation with,” Holbrooke said. Holbrooke added that Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, is carrying a private presidential letter “that I would have carried if I had the time to go to Delhi on this trip but I couldn’t do it.” Obama letter handed to India amid consultations on Pak. The Nation

The letters contains some frank advice for Delhi. It asks Delhi to contain its bellicose rhetoric, and improve the situation on the Western borders. As a prelude to the US pressure, stories have been to the New York Times and the Washington Post about how close to a deal India and Pakistan were on Kashmir and how India missed out on a golden opportunity. The government of Pakistan has now reverted back to the UN resolutions and demand for a plebiscite on Kashmir as part of the solution. This does not auger well for India, because Kashmiris have made their thoughts known on their fondness for becoming part of Pakistan.

Shutting down the Consulates is not enough. The Bharati base in Tajikistan also has to be shut down.

Central Asia Tajikistan Pakistan: RAW trail of terror from Tajik bases to Indian Consulates in Afghanistan to targets in Pakistan

Washington has publicly and privately asked Delhi to improve relations with Islamabad so that the Pakistani armed forces can concentrate on the Western borders. At this critical juncture when a US surge is going to place additional pressure on Durand Line, the Obama Administration wants Delhi to help ease the tensions and reduce the level of rhetoric. In a highly unusual step the American Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan has handed over a letter from President Obama to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It has already been established that the meeting was about Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is widely understood in diplomatic circles that the US wants India to back off on its so called demands. The blunt message came after the U S Treasury secretary visited China and came back with Beijing’s displeasure at the continued Indian support for the TTP in Swat.

United News of India quoted unnamed sources as saying that the US had asked India to ‘close or prune down’ its consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan following allegations by Pakistan that it was ‘creating trouble’ in the border areas of NWFP and Balochistan.

UNI said Pakistan had alleged that the Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar were ‘fomenting trouble’ in NWFP and Balochistan bordering Afghanistan by providing financial and material support to fugitives in the two border provinces. The sources said besides asking India to resume talks with Pakistan, the US was also trying to convey to Indian authorities its views on closing or pruning the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad.... Dawn

Washington wants Delhi to forget Mumbai and move forward towards a new tomorrow. The letter contains some candid advice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the realities of West Asia. All this wrapped up in candy and bubble gum. Delhi has been expecting the pressure and has been making noises about peace and “meeting Pakistan half way” as a ruse to diffuse the crisis of its own making. Pakistan seeks peace with India as an equal-not as a reward for good behaviour.

Delhi has to tone down its rhetoric on terror. Islamabad and the world knows who is behind the TTP in Swat. If Delhi wants peace with Pakistan, it has to pull back in Afghanistan and Swat. It has to make major territorial concessions in Kashmir and the border areas. Once the border disputes have been resolved, the sky is the limit in cooperation with Pakistan. Sir Creek and Siachin have to solved and resolved quickly. Once Kashmir is resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people, the Pakistan government will find to problem in helping Bharat gain trans-national travel through Pakistan. However this  has to be on a mutual basis which would allow Pakistani truck to reach Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Bharat must live up to the letter and the spirit of the Indus Water treaty and begin treating Pakistanis are friends rather than enemies.

NEW DELHI: Senior US diplomat William Burns gave Indian officials a wish-list on Thursday that aims to revive India-Pakistan peace talks, assures New Delhi of its vital role in Washington’s strategy in the region, and retrieves the hope for Kashmiri people to shape their own destiny.

Local reports quoted unnamed sources as saying that the visiting US Under-Secretary of State also asked his interlocutors to trim India’s consulate in Jalalabad, which Pakistan sees as a distraction in the military campaign against Muslim extremists on the Afghan border. Dawn

There are many types of peace. It is obvious that India has neither the capacity nor the wherewithal to impose peace of the sort that exists between the Native Americans and the US government. India is not Israel and Pakistan is not the Gaza strip. If Israel with all its might could not force an unequal peace on unequal partners (Syria, Palestinians and Lebanon) it is also very obvious that Delhi cannot impose peace on Pakistan the same way. Bharat could not break up Lanka and make it Kowtow to Bharat. It cannot force Pakistan. It has to woo Pakistanis if she wants peace on her Western borders.

Holbrooke, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, added: “We consider India an absolutely critical country in the region. They are vitally effective and we want to work closely with them.” Asked whether the message was about US-Indian cooperation to help stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan, a US official told AFP on the condition of anonymity that “the letter was about our relationship with India more generally, not just focused on Af/Pak.” The Nation

There is much in common between India and Pakistan, but there is much that separates the countries. Mere cultural affinity and anathema to religion cannot wish the differences away. Bharat must recognize that Pakistanis do not see Delhi as the perfect model to emulate on anything. Therefore Delhi must stop wishing for a Pakistan in its own image. There are many routes to success, and Pakistanis admire the Chinese a lot more than they admire Indians.

In Delhi, Burns held talks with Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon in the first formal contact between Obama’s administration and New Delhi’s recently elected government. The United States has been encouraging India to restart dialogue with Pakistan, stalled since last November’s attacks on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed. India says the 10 gunmen involved in the assault were trained by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Islamic rebel group and has demanded that the alleged plotters be brought to justice. Holbrooke said during a visit to Delhi in April that the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its allies can be met only with the joint efforts of arch rivals India and Pakistan, as well as the United States. But Holbrooke stressed that Washington had no intention of pushing New Delhi into resuming a peace dialogue with fellow nuclear power Islamabad. Obama letter handed to India amid consultations on Pak. The Nation