Pentagon wants pressure on India

NEW DELHI: A debate is on in the Obama administration on how hard India can be pushed to ease tensions with Pakistan.

The Pentagon, a Wall Street Journal report said, is actively lobbying for putting more pressure on India. The report has also revealed that president Barack Obama had issued a secret directive to intensify diplomacy towards that aim and to win Islamabad’s cooperation in Afghanistan.

The newspaper cited current and former US officials as saying the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as Pakistan ratchets up requests that the US intercede in a series of continuing disputes. The Obama administration has, so far, made few concrete demands of New Delhi, it said citing US and Indian officials.