Pleased as it is with US President Barack Obama?s reassuring tone on a range of concerns raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India is conscious that its problems with Pakistan and Afghanistan remain challenging as ever and will have to find its own remedies.
Whether it is the question of Delhi resuming the dialogue with Islamabad or maintaining a substantive presence in Afghanistan, Obama was sensitive to Indian concerns, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said after the meeting between the two leaders on Sunday.
While favouring the ?reduction of tensions? between India and Pakistan, Obama was empathetic to Singh?s demand that Pakistan should act against the plotters of the Mumbai attacks, Rao said. In his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday evening, Obama reportedly conveyed India?s terms for a resumption of the dialogue.
Contrary to Pakistan?s expectations, there was no pressure from Obama to scale down India?s presence in Afghanistan. According a White House statement, the President ?welcomed the humanitarian and development assistance that India continues to provide in Afghanistan?.
More broadly, Rao said that Obama ?fully understood our concerns about the Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan? and ?was engaging? Islamabad on these issues.
Obama was also sensitive, according to Rao, on Indian concerns about US arms sales to Rawalpindi and assured continuous monitoring of American security assistance to Pakistan. On the question of India gaining access to David Headley, Obama ?was fully supportive? and referred to the on-going legal process in the United States.
While Obama?s sentiments are all welcome, India?s problem is somewhat different. It is by no means clear if Washington has the power to persuade the Pakistan Army to take action against the Mumbai accused and rein in the LeT. Nor is it certain that Washington can dissuade Rawalpindi from attacking Indian targets in Afghanistan.
After all, the Indian delegation is acutely aware of Washington?s critical dependence on the Pakistan Army to achieve its goals in Afghanistan. Nor was it surprising that Obama was so effusive about the relations with Pakistan in his meeting with Gilani.
Obama opened the meeting with Gilani ?by noting that he is very fond of Pakistan, having visited the country during college,? the White House said in a statement.
The stronger he presses Pakistanto act against America?s enemies, India can see, the greater will be the rewards that Obama has to shower on the Pakistan Army. Delhi has no doubt that Obama wants to maintain the good relations with India as well.
If Washington has no choice but to triangulate its relations with Islamabad and Delhi, India knows that not all outcomes would be in its favour. This in turn underlines the urgency of India acting on its own to alter the regional environment.
Delhi, then, will have to define its Afghan policy, not on the basis of Washington?s approval or disapproval, but on India?s capacity to sustain the current presence in the face of Pakistan?s hostility.
Even more inescapable is the case for a rethink on the terms and timing of a dialogue with Pakistan. While she categorically ruled out a meeting between the two prime ministers in Washington, Rao left the door open for a possible encounter in Bhutan at the end of this month on the margins of a South Asian summit.