The Stand-Off
A fascinating report, by Steve Coll, titled The Stand-Off, is in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine (Feb 13 & 20 2006).
The article begins with the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13th, 2001. Five men armed with pistols, riffles, ammunition and a grenade launcher arrived in a white Ambassador with a flashing red light on top. The Vice Presidents car was in front of theirs, and blocked their entry. If they had got through, the entire building with all inside would have perished. The Indians concluded that the ISI or Pakistani’s external inter-services intelligence were involved.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, so any aggression or war would involve the use of nuclear weapons.
The Americans were shuttling diplomatically, between India and Pakistan. Robert Blackwill, the American ambassador in India, played a pivotal role, by attending the memorial for the security guards that had died in the attack and convincing Washington to add some of the larger jihadi groups in Kashmir on the banned terrorist organization list. President of Pakistan, Musharaff’s support of the U.S., in its war on terror, caused him to face dissent from his generals and Islamic religious groups. But the US promised nuclear security asistance to Pakistan.
The article then analyses Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, that had been run autonomously by A.Q Khan. Late in 2002, it was found out that, Khan was selling nuclear knowlege and technology to the governments of Iran and Libya. American insistence on stricter controls on nuclear arms, led to the military generals taking control of the facility.
The idea of jihadi groups wanting to set off a war in the subcontinent, to serve their own interests, and then this conflict spreading to the Middle East was a serious concern, to the US, India and Pakistan.
The author brings together all the players in the conflict, Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh, Musharaff, A. Q. Khan, Richard Armitage and Robert Blackwill, he shows the role of the U.S. as the link between India and Pakistan. India’s ideas of being non-aligned to the major powers and making independent foreign policy decisions is called into question. The role of United Nations seemed non-existent. It seems that the U.S.’s pressure on Pakistan and India to back off, brought the nuclear powers to heel.
Here is a link to an interview with Steve Coll on the New Yorker website
http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/060213on_onlineonly01
The article begins with the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13th, 2001. Five men armed with pistols, riffles, ammunition and a grenade launcher arrived in a white Ambassador with a flashing red light on top. The Vice Presidents car was in front of theirs, and blocked their entry. If they had got through, the entire building with all inside would have perished. The Indians concluded that the ISI or Pakistani’s external inter-services intelligence were involved.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, so any aggression or war would involve the use of nuclear weapons.
The Americans were shuttling diplomatically, between India and Pakistan. Robert Blackwill, the American ambassador in India, played a pivotal role, by attending the memorial for the security guards that had died in the attack and convincing Washington to add some of the larger jihadi groups in Kashmir on the banned terrorist organization list. President of Pakistan, Musharaff’s support of the U.S., in its war on terror, caused him to face dissent from his generals and Islamic religious groups. But the US promised nuclear security asistance to Pakistan.
The article then analyses Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, that had been run autonomously by A.Q Khan. Late in 2002, it was found out that, Khan was selling nuclear knowlege and technology to the governments of Iran and Libya. American insistence on stricter controls on nuclear arms, led to the military generals taking control of the facility.
The idea of jihadi groups wanting to set off a war in the subcontinent, to serve their own interests, and then this conflict spreading to the Middle East was a serious concern, to the US, India and Pakistan.
The author brings together all the players in the conflict, Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh, Musharaff, A. Q. Khan, Richard Armitage and Robert Blackwill, he shows the role of the U.S. as the link between India and Pakistan. India’s ideas of being non-aligned to the major powers and making independent foreign policy decisions is called into question. The role of United Nations seemed non-existent. It seems that the U.S.’s pressure on Pakistan and India to back off, brought the nuclear powers to heel.
Here is a link to an interview with Steve Coll on the New Yorker website
http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/060213on_onlineonly01
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