Holbrooke denies plans to mediate between India, Pak

Richard Holbrooke

ISLAMABAD: The US has no plans to mediate between India and Pakistan, the American Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan said here, as he stressed on the need for the two neighbors to normalize relations.

"We cannot negotiate between the two countries," said Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He underlined the need for the India and Pakistan to normalize relations that was strained after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year.

Holbrooke refused to say anything in response to a question on the US playing a role in resolving the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

The US Special Representative said the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were an act of "strategic terrorism" aimed at starting a war between Pakistan and India but the perpetrators failed to achieve their objective.

"The terrorists' goal was to start a war but they failed," Holbrooke said during an interaction with a group of journalists here after his meetings with top Pakistani leaders. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also present.

Referring to the regional situation, Holbrooke said the top Taliban leadership is hiding in Pakistan and controlling the militants fighting the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban leadership is in Pakistan and Taliban militants are fighting in Afghanistan," he said before leaving for India.
The US knew from various sources that the Taliban's Shura or top leadership is hiding in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province and this has serious implications for the new American strategy for the region, he said. The issue of the Taliban Shura has been discussed with the Pakistani leadership, he added. Mullen said American forces had begun targeting Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud as he posed a direct threat to the US and his fighters were crossing into Afghanistan to fight NATO and ISAF forces.

Both Holbrooke and Mullen denied that the US was part of a campaign to malign Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Mullen insisted that the ISI, Pakistan Army and the US army should cooperate in the fight against terror.

Holbrooke said Pakistan and Afghanistan should improve cooperation in intelligence sharing. "There is a legacy of distrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan and we are trying to encourage them to increase cooperation," he said.

A majority of Pakistanis had realized after recent acts of terrorism in Swat and Lahore that the war on terror was not simply an "American war" as the menace posed a direct threat to them as well, he said.

"There is a change in the perception of the people in Pakistan about the war on terror, and it will push Pakistan and the US to work more closely in this fight," Holbrooke said.
Mullen said a majority of Pakistani troops were on the eastern border with India. Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani had begun relocating them to the western border but this process was stalled after the Mumbai attacks, he said.

 The Pakistan Army is a traditional force that lacked specialized training to fight terrorists, he said, adding that the US Army too was a traditional force but it had learnt a lot while fighting insurgents in Iraq. He offered to share the experience gained in Iraq with Pakistan to make its fight against terrorists effective.