Tuesday, August 13, 2013

India - Pakistan Compete Over Afghanistan

Insight: As Afghanistan Endgame Looms, A Deadly Edge To India-Pakistan Rivalry -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Pakistan-based militants are preparing to take on India across the subcontinent once Western troops leave Afghanistan next year, several sources say, raising the risk of a dramatic spike in tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

Intelligence sources in India believe that a botched suicide bombing of an Indian consulate in Afghanistan, which was followed within days last week by a lethal cross-border ambush on Indian soldiers in disputed Kashmir, suggest that the new campaign by Islamic militants may already be underway.

Members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit in Pakistan, the group blamed for the 2008 commando-style raid on Mumbai that killed 166 people, told Reuters they were preparing to take the fight to India once again, this time across the region.

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My Comment: With U.S. and international forces positioning themselves to leave Afghanistan, the perception from Pakistan and India is that a "power vacuum" is about to present itself. But instead of cooperation .... we have age old rivalries breaking out with Afghanistan in the middle .... a prospect that will serve no one's best interest and that will result in only the Taliban benefiting.

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