Saturday, March 13, 2010
Pakistan should rein in LeT: Blake
From The Hindu
Pakistan would not be acting in its own interests if it endangered the United States by failing to rein in Lashkar-e-Taiba, Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, on Friday suggested.
In an interview Mr. Blake said, “Lashkar-e-Taiba is a terrorist group based in Pakistan that has increasingly global ambitions and global scope… and so it’s in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of LeT.”
Signalling growing concerns in the U.S. over the LeT’s capacity to target locations outside South Asia, Mr. Blake’s comments came a day after a hearing on Capitol Hill at which Congressmen noted that “The LeT has put the world on notice that they intend to escalate the carnage and spread it worldwide.”
Touching upon the first Indo-Pakistan talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Mr. Blake said, “We do believe that one of the most important things to work on is this issue of terrorism, because, I think, it’s something that threatens not only both of these countries but also the United States.”
Mr. Blake explained that in addition to a significant increase in U.S. civilian assistance, the U.S. has also been “helping the Pakistani military to reorient itself from its historical focus on India and the threat that might have been posed by India, towards improving its counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist capabilities, so that it can really grapple and deal with the challenges in its border areas.”
He said that there could never be success in stabilising Afghanistan without the full participation of Pakistan.
Obama “committed” to India nuclear agreement
On the question of the civilian nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India, Mr. Blake affirmed that “The United States, under President Obama, remains very much committed to the nuclear agreement that was signed under President Bush, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.”
Pointing out that “very important talks on reprocessing” were under way, he said that he expected the discussions to be completed “well before” the deadline of August 2010.
He also emphasised that the U.S. was very much hoping that the Indian government will proceed with a very important legislation on nuclear liability, and was gratified to learn that the President of India has announced India’s intention to introduce this bill in the current session of Parliament.
“We’ll be following the progress of that legislation very closely,” Mr. Blake said, adding that the U.S.’s ultimate goal was to allow the export of nuclear reactors to India.
Pakistan would not be acting in its own interests if it endangered the United States by failing to rein in Lashkar-e-Taiba, Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, on Friday suggested.
In an interview Mr. Blake said, “Lashkar-e-Taiba is a terrorist group based in Pakistan that has increasingly global ambitions and global scope… and so it’s in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of LeT.”
Signalling growing concerns in the U.S. over the LeT’s capacity to target locations outside South Asia, Mr. Blake’s comments came a day after a hearing on Capitol Hill at which Congressmen noted that “The LeT has put the world on notice that they intend to escalate the carnage and spread it worldwide.”
Touching upon the first Indo-Pakistan talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Mr. Blake said, “We do believe that one of the most important things to work on is this issue of terrorism, because, I think, it’s something that threatens not only both of these countries but also the United States.”
Mr. Blake explained that in addition to a significant increase in U.S. civilian assistance, the U.S. has also been “helping the Pakistani military to reorient itself from its historical focus on India and the threat that might have been posed by India, towards improving its counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist capabilities, so that it can really grapple and deal with the challenges in its border areas.”
He said that there could never be success in stabilising Afghanistan without the full participation of Pakistan.
Obama “committed” to India nuclear agreement
On the question of the civilian nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India, Mr. Blake affirmed that “The United States, under President Obama, remains very much committed to the nuclear agreement that was signed under President Bush, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.”
Pointing out that “very important talks on reprocessing” were under way, he said that he expected the discussions to be completed “well before” the deadline of August 2010.
He also emphasised that the U.S. was very much hoping that the Indian government will proceed with a very important legislation on nuclear liability, and was gratified to learn that the President of India has announced India’s intention to introduce this bill in the current session of Parliament.
“We’ll be following the progress of that legislation very closely,” Mr. Blake said, adding that the U.S.’s ultimate goal was to allow the export of nuclear reactors to India.
Labels: Barack Obama, insurgency, LeT, Manmohan Singh, Mumbai attacks, Robert Blake
# posted by Narayan Lakshman @ 4:47 AM 
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