Opinion ‘Pakistan’s capabilities are very severely stretched’

There are channels of communication being explored. But I don’t think any of this has reached the point of being substantive talks of any kind. To reconcile what President Karzai calls his disaffected compatriots has to be a settlement that Afghanistan works out itself. This outreach to the senior leaders is still in the very early stages. And we don’t know how serious they are,whether they really want to accept the offer that President Karzai has made to them or whether actually they seek to gain in tactical terms.

Are other countries also involved in this outreach to the Taliban leadership?

It is Afghan-led but that doesn’t mean that others are not involved. Others are involved. All initiatives are with Afghan consent and on their behalf.

In the context of the intended drawdown of troops in Afghanistan by 2014,what kind of a role do you see Pakistan playing in the country? More so,when most terror groups are operating from Pakistan?

Our aim is to end our combat role by 2014. We want to continue a presence after that in a training and support role for the Afghan force. In terms of Pakistan,clearly they have a tremendous function. They have lost more people than any of us. We have to keep in mind the burden they are already tackling and the scale of threat they are dealing with. We will provide whatever support we can and whatever the Pakistanis are willing to accept. We have to understand that their capability to tackle all threats together is very severely stretched.

Given the current threat that Pakistan faces from within,do you think Pakistan has moved beyond the India factor?

It would be unrealistic to expect that Pakistan will ever move beyond the India factor. But interestingly when I was there 10 days ago I had long meetings with several Pakistani leaders. The foreign secretary,senior military officials and people on their national security apparatus. In terms of proportion of time spent talking on a range of subjects,we spent very little time talking about India. I think the leadership of Pakistan recognises that the immediate threat to Pakistan’s stability lies within and comes from these militants.

Is this a recent trend?

No,I don’t think so. If you look at the actions they have taken,they have withdrawn a substantial amount of troops from the India border,where they have been traditionally stationed,in order to be able to carry out their own counter-insurgency operations. Now,I don’t know the exact number,but we are talking about substantial [figures. Given the traditional tensions between the two countries,they would only do so if they are confident that the forces remaining are enough to deal with any threat. At the moment,the relationship between the two countries has been on a positive track so they feel that they can do so [reduce troops.

Prime Minister Singh was recently in Afghanistan and offered to expand the basket of assistance. How do you see India’s role in Afghanistan,including getting involved in training security forces?

India plays a very positive role in Afghan. A big and very effective aid program has gone into significant parts of Afghan infrastructure. The political support that PM Manmohan Singh offered to Karzai on the Afghan reconciliation process was very important. On security,the Afghans also understand that his is a very delicate issue. So far Indian support has been focused on the police. Helping to create a professional police is a critical role. India’s experience in policing a large,rural,uneducated and fragmented population is more relevant to Afghanistan than what other police forces of Europe or the US can bring in.

Lately,the emphasis has returned on improvement in Indo-Pak ties as a key driver to stability in Afghanistan? Does London perceive playing any role?

We don’t want to be involved in that. Of course,we have a strategic interest in improving relations between India and Pakistan. My own view is that while,of course,better relations between India and Pakistan would have a dramatically stabilising impact on the whole region,including Afghanistan,we cannot allow our effort in Afghanistan to depend on that.