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OBAMA, SOCCER AND SOUTH ASIAN SECURITY

M K Bhadrakumar

Asia Times, January 10, 2009

The United States could be on the threshold of a big breakthrough in the geopolitics of the South Asian region. A planned visit by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington in late January could well turn out to be the tipping point.

The diplomatic tango over the terrorist attacks on the western Indian city of Mumbai on November 27 is entering a crucial phase. In a media interaction on Wednesday, the American ambassador to India, David Mulford, let it be known that India's dossier linking Pakistani nationals with the Mumbai attacks is "credible". New Delhi had handed over the dossier to Islamabad on Monday.

He said, "I think the dossier is credible. A lot of that was prepared with assistance from the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation]. The US doesn't compile stuff which is not credible." Mulford went on to say that the Mumbai attacks appeared to have been carried out from Pakistan and that an FBI team was en route to Pakistan, which would take the probe forward. Equally, Mulford reacted sharply to the widespread notion that Pakistan holds the US by the jugular vein over the Afghan war. He said, "Americans are very good at skinning the cats."

After having secured New Delhi's assurance that India will not resort to a military strike against Pakistan, Washington is perceptibly stepping up pressure on Islamabad to act on the available evidence regarding the Mumbai attacks. Mulford's tough statement signifies a shifting of gear. So far Islamabad has been on a denial mode, but on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad publicly acknowledged that the lone terrorist survivor in the Mumbai attacks was after all a Pakistani national. On Thursday, in another statement, the Foreign Ministry affirmed that the Indian dossier is under "serious consideration".

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