US strategic review of Afghanistan may consider Indian involvement

Increased violence along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and a rapidly changing security environment in Afghanistan, warrants a full review of American strategy, a top US military officer said yesterday. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the review would look at broadening the scope of the Afghanistan strategy and apart from improving interagency coordination in this war-torn country would also look at including Pakistan and India in the overall effort to combat the Taliban and the al-Qaeda.

Adm. Mullen noted that both countries have long historic links to Afghanistan and have an important role to play there.

Diplomatic sources in Washington stressed that the idea of allowing India a larger role in the Afghan strategy, or even including them in any joint force to control the Pak-Afghan border has not been discussed formally between US and Pakistani authorities. They also said that it was very unlikely that Pakistan would welcome any such move.

Pakistan, for long, has considered Afghanistan as part of its 'strategic depth' and has tried hard to limit Indian influence in this war-torn country. India has a minimal security presence in Afghanistan, mainly para-military commandos that guard contingents of Indian workers involved with various infrastructure projects.

In an interview with the Pentagon Channel Adm. Mullen, noted the increased sophistication of al-Qaida and Taliban operatives in the border region and expressed concerns about the border region becoming a safe haven for insurgents.

"Things have changed enough in Afghanistan and Pakistan to warrant a review of our overall strategy there, and in fact, part of the effort is to try to ensure better coordination on both sides of that border, which is a safe haven [for insurgents]," the admiral said.

According to Mullen, the United States, NATO and other countries had failed so far to forge the kind of strategic unity necessary to stem the rise in violence.

"One of the big struggles we have is developing a comprehensive approach to all of this," the admiral said. "We're just not there."

"I don't think it's going to turn around overnight. So I would anticipate next year being a tougher year," he added.

"It's been very, very tough fighting this year and it will be tougher next year unless we (develop) a way to get at all aspects of the challenge," he said.

"It's the full spectrum - the political piece, the diplomatic piece, the economic piece, in addition to the security piece - that's got to improve dramatically."

Worsening situation
The United States has 33,000 troops in the country, 13,000 of them under NATO command. All told, Mullen said there are now about 64,000 Western soldiers in Afghanistan. Another 6,000 American troops will be inducted into the country by February of the coming year.

The United States has for some time now stepped up pressure on NATO allies and others to increase the numbers of their troops. US Army Gen David McKiernan, NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, has asked for an additional deployment of 15,000 more US troops over and above those already earmarked by the Pentagon.

Last month, amid rising insurgent violence and tensions with Pakistan, president George W Bush ordered a review of US strategy in Afghanistan. The review is being led by Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, a deputy national security adviser, with the participation of senior representatives from the Pentagon and other departments. Officials said the review would be a "...larger, more cross-governmental approach."

With time running out for the administration, with only months to go, the White House wants to move quickly, officials said. The order for a review comes amid growing concern that insurgent groups operating from safe havens in Pakistan have gained strength over the past two years.

Officials said there was broad support for an approach that "doesn't look at Afghanistan as an island, but looks at it in connection with Pakistan."

"The problems we are seeing in (eastern Afghanistan) are directly attributable to what is going on the other side of the border," they said.

If India is indeed taken onboard in an integrated Afghanistan policy it would be yet another indicator of the rapidly developing relationships between the United States and India and fast-shifting geo-political dynamics of the Indian sub-continent.