India emerging out of shadows in Afghanistan as Pakistan stumbles

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

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Tejinder Singh
May 14, 2011

India the silent operator in Afghanistan started emerging out of the shadows in Afghanistan as the veiled connections of Pakistani players to terror outfits become clear according to developments of the past weeks.

Commenting on the recently concluded visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Afghanistan, the United States on Friday welcomed Indian role saying, “India can play a constructive role in Afghanistan and in the region, and we would certainly welcome their involvement.”

On the question of if the U.S. - India equation is changing especially in Afghanistan, the State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists, “We talk about Afghanistan with India and – as well as other regional issues. Our bilateral relationship with India is quite close and robust,” adding, “We recognize India’s role in the region and are frankly encouraged by it playing a more active and constructive role.”

During a visit to Kabul on May 12-13, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got a rare privilege to address a joint session of the Afghan parliament, just over a week after al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.

In his address a sign of the deepening links between the two countries, Singh told Afghan lawmakers, "Terrorism and extremism are alien ideas to our people. They only bring death and destruction in their wake."

Singh reiterated commitment to fight terrorism in the region, saying: "We cannot and must not allow the flames of extremism and terrorism to be fanned once again."

Commenting on the ongoing attempts to make a peace deal with Taliban, Singh said, "India will respect the choices you make," adding, "Our only interest is to see a stable, peaceful and independent Afghanistan living in peace with its neighbors."

On Thursday, Singh pledged an additional $500 million in aid to Afghanistan, on top of $1.5 billion already promised to the war ravaged country.

President Barack Obama had spoken to Prime Minister Singh before his visit “to discuss the successful American action against Osama Bin Laden and to review progress in implementing the initiatives launched during the President’s November 2010 visit to India,” according to a White House communique.

“The two leaders also discussed global and regional issues of mutual concern,” the White House said.

On the other hand, Islamabad was struggling to keep domestic pro-Islamic voices in check while trying to keep pace with American acceleration on global war on terror.

The upcoming Chicago trial of David Headley aka Daood Gilani and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the two Pakistanis who allegedly planned and conducted the Mumbai sanguinary terror attacks is becoming a headache for Pakistan and the U.S. as well as those two are implicating the Pakistani government and its intelligence agency ISI in the ghastly attack that killed six Americans and scores of Indians.

In the court documents emerging prior to the trial, Rana was cited as saying that his acts of providing material support to terrorists in the Mumbai attacks as alleged by U.S. prosecutors ''were done at the behest of the Pakistani government and the ISI, not the Lashkar (e-Taiba) terrorist organization.''

In addition, Rana invoked his friend and fellow conspirator Headley's Grand Jury testimony in which the latter too implicates ISI.

A U.S. official familiar with the ongoing case, on condition of anonymity told AHN, “The U.S. will definitely try to keep as much of the upcoming hearing classified to do damage control against ISI but definitely the cat is out of the bag,” adding, “It is only a matter of time as the U.S. foreign policy shifts from Pakistan-oriented to India-loving.”

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90048402?India%20emerging%20out%20of%20shadows%20in%20Afghanistan%20as%20Pakistan%20stumbles.