United States needs to deal more forthrightly with Pakistan: US daily

WASHINGTON: India and Pakistan cannot achieve a deep and strategic partnership until the US deals more forthrightly with Pakistan, an American media report said today as President Barack Obama leaves on a three day visit to India to attend Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

"They cannot achieve a deep and strategic partnership until the United States deals more forthrightly with Pakistan, New Delhi's neighbour and nemesis," Michael Kugelman, a senior program associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center wrote in the New York Times.

"In other words, Washington must do more to address India's anxieties about Pakistan. But there is a conundrum. Washington should also not harm its delicate and distrustful relationship with Islamabad," he said.

He said that America should stop giving free passes to the Pakistani military, which receives billions of dollars worth of aid even as it sponsors militant groups that murder Indians.

"An American law requires that the government, before releasing security assistance, certify that Pakistan's armed forces have acted to stop Pakistan-based militants, including anti-India groups. But in recent years, the Obama administration has invoked national security waivers that bypass the certification process. That should stop," he said.

"Insisting on certification would show India that the White House holds Pakistan military to some account. And Pakistan would probably pass," he said referring to the recent counter-terrorism steps being taken by the Pakistan Army in the border areas.

Washington, he wrote, should also target overseas financial holdings of Pakistanis who threaten India.

"The United States should try to steer Pakistan's short-term focus away from Kashmir and toward normalising trade relations with India," Kugelman said.

"Helping New Delhi address its fears of Pakistan while engaging in damage control with Islamabad would be a logical and timely policy -- a worthy goal for President Obama," he added.