US should mediate between India, Pakistan: Think-tank

NEW DELHI: A leading US thinktank has urged the America to mediate between nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours to prevent Pakistan from falling into the hands of radicals and Islamists.

On the eve of Modi’s fourth trip to the US, the Brookings Institute has suggested three steps that could help both Washington and New Delhi address respective differences with Pakistan. “The United States should re-open the Bonn process, and invite India, Pakistan, China and Iran as full partners in a discussion about Afghanistan’s future. After the school massacre in Peshawar even the Pakistan army is aware of the costs of their policy of supporting the Taliban. And it is not in Indian interests to see Pakistan under the control of the Taliban or Islamic State,” writes Stephen Cohen, noted South Asia expert, in a report titled ‘India-US Relations in Transition’.

The report says India could design a regional trade pact that would rebuild some of South Asia’s identity, including assurances that Pakistan would not be economically overwhelmed.

“While now euphoric over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Islamabad must rebuild its regional connections to safeguard itself against the kinds of intrusions China has practised elsewhere. This could be linked to a regional agreement on Afghanistan.”