Well, the policy is called de-hyphenation, that is we separate India policy from Pakistan policy, which means we don’t pay any attention to Kashmir. I think that is a mistake. I think there is a legitimate American interest in Kashmir, not supporting the Pakistani view, which I think is wrong, or the Indian view entirely, which has its problems, or least of all encouraging independence.
But I think we can facilitate India and Pakistan to reach agreement which at least puts the Kashmir issue for as long as necessary into cold storage. Because the Kashmiris themselves are suffering and recent events in Kashmir were caused not by Pakistan but by mismanagement on the Indian side. So, if there is anything we can do we should do.
I would like to ask you about terrorism. Both countries have faced challenges from terrorism, can they work together?
Until recently, there hasn’t been much cooperation, (only) a lot of rhetoric, hot air. But on the… attempt against the Indian embassy in Kabul. We got intelligence somehow and informed the Indians about it and apparently the death toll in the embassy in Kabul would have been much greater otherwise.
One of the conclusions that was drawn from the bomb attack against the Indian embassy in Kabul was that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, could have been involved. The US has definitely said so.
Why would the ISI do this?
I think they wanted to show the US, Pakistani politicians and maybe the Indians that they were still in business. And what better way to do this than to launch an attack against the Indian embassy. I think it was a mistake. I have just spent a couple of weeks in Pakistan. The question is, who runs ISI? Does the army run it? Does it run itself? Certainly the civilian politicians don’t have much influence over the ISI. That is one of the big issues facing the US and also facing India, and of course Pakistan.
Who runs Pakistan? Is it Asif Ali Zardari, the President, or is it the army chief?
President Zardari can issue orders and make recommendations, but nothing happens until the army agrees. So in a sense the army still has an important role in running Pakistan. That is why you can’t do anything without the army’s cooperation.
What about the democracy project in Pakistan, can India help in any way?
I have always felt that India could do more to help Pakistan than the US could. It is in India’s interest to have a pluralist, functioning democracy in Pakistan. My concern is that it may be too late for Pakistan.
Do you think Pakistan is a failing state?
It has failed in bits and parts for the past 30-40 years, but it hasn’t failed comprehensively yet, which means that it hasn’t broken down like the way Somalia has or Afghanistan. But every part of it has failed one time or another. Its military policy has failed, its diplomacy has failed, its social policies have failed, the provinces are going their independent way. I think it’s critically important that we keep Pakistan together as best we can. A truly failing Pakistan would surely send a couple of million refugees and Islamic extremism right on your border which is something you don’t want.
And yet American troops are now fighting Pakistanis?