Obama’s letter did the trick?

NEW DELHI: It was an Obama letter that was hand-delivered by US national security adviser James L Jones to Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari that seems to have triggered the latest Indo-Pak engagement.

A report in the Washington Post said that president Obama in the letter, which was delivered in November, offered to help ease tension with India along with military and economic assistance in exchange for intensifying the offensive against the Taliban.

``The letter, offered additional military and economic assistance and help easing tensions with India, a bitter enemy of Pakistan. With US facilitation, the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers have agreed to meet next week, the first high-level talks between the two countries since terrorist attacks in Mumbai in late 2008,’’ the report said.

The report concluded that the Pakistani decision to go after the Afghan Taliban leadership took place after the Obama letter which had also warned Pakistan against using insurgent groups to pursue its policy goals.

According to the report, the letter’s delivery followed the completion of a White House strategy review in which the administration concluded that stepped-up efforts in Afghanistan would not succeed without improved cooperation from Pakistan.

The report noted that there has been a marked shift in the Pakistani action against the Taliban with the capture of top Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the number two Taliban commander, and two of the group’s “shadow” governors for northern Afghanistan. This is being seen as a new level of cooperation between Us and Pakistan in taking on the Taliban. ``The ISI and CIA are working together, with the Americans providing actionable intelligence and the Pakistanis acting together with them” to track down insurgent leaders, a Pak official was quoted as saying.