08:31 Failure of US, India to establish deterrence encouraged Pak to back terror: Report: Failure of both the United States and India to impose accountability or establish deterrence on Pakistan has encouraged the country to ‘continue a policy of backing extremists’ in both India and Afghanistan, a leading American daily has said.
The Washington Post in an editorial in the aftermath of Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed said India is confronted with a dilemma that both it and the US have repeatedly faced: what to do about the sponsorship of Islamist terrorist groups by Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state?
‘Diplomacy, sanctions and targeted military strikes haven’t worked; full-scale war is unthinkable. Yet the failure to impose accountability or establish deterrence only encourages the Pakistani military and its intelligence service to continue a policy of backing extremists in both India and Afghanistan,’ it said.
The editorial underlined that Pakistan is unlikely to act on any evidence provided by India on the Pulwama attack.
‘If the record of past terrorist attacks in India is any indication, Pakistan will not act even if evidence is provided. The same has been true of its response to terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, such as assaults on the US Embassy and other Western targets by a Taliban faction known as the Haqqani network, which Pakistan is also believed to support,’ it said.
Pakistan has long sought to use terrorists to gain leverage over India, with which it disputes control of Kashmir, and the US, which it would like to force to accept rule by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the daily said.
‘It is making headway on the latter goal with the Trump administration, which has been negotiating with the Taliban about withdrawing US troops. That increases the complications for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a national election in the coming months,’ it said. — PTI
08:08 Trump: Very bad situation between India, Pak; in talks with both:
Describing the current situation between India and Pakistan as ‘very, very bad’, United States President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley.
“Right now between Pakistan and India, there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation. We would like to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed.
“We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that (process),” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.
The US president was responding to questions on last week’s terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
“India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the attack. I can understand that too,” Trump said, adding that his administration was talking to authorities in both countries.
“We’re talking. A lot of people are. It’s going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened,” he said.
The President said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials.
“I stopped paying Pakistan the $1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents.
“We were paying Pakistan $1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have,” Trump said.
He said the United States’ relation with Pakistan has developed in the last few months. — PTI
Source: Rediff