India indispensable regional actor: Top US think tank

WASHINGTON: Describing India as an "indispensable regional actor", a top US-based think tank has underlined the need for a friendly relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"India is an indispensable regional actor," said the Asia Society's Task Force report "A Strategy for Stabilizing Afghanistan-Pakistan".

"The United States should undertake to relieve Pakistan's anxiety about the Indian consulates in Afghanistan (which, contrary to what Pakistan says, do have legitimate consular functions) by encouraging transparency and dialogue between the two countries in Afghanistan," said the report, co-chaired by Thomas Pickering (Ambassador to India 1992-93) and Barnett Rubin, that was recently submitted to the Obama Administration and released to the public.

The independent task force stressed that the Obama Administration need to inform Pakistan that active support and engagement for this process will depend on its concrete action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and similar events.

Specifically, the United States should encourage Pakistan and India to speak directly about their mutual suspicions toward each other's interests in Afghanistan. India, the report said, will argue that it has legitimate interests in Afghanistan and that it is a major donor to the international effort to rebuild that country.