Holbrooke's portfolio very much includes India: Petraeus

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Apr 25 (PTI) The "portfolio" of US Special
Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke
includes India, a top US general has said.

General David Petraeus, Commander of the US Central
Command, also underlined the need for reducing tension between
India and Pakistan so that Islamabad can both "intellectually
and physically focus" on the most pressing threat to its
existence -- the internal extremist threat rather than the
"traditional threat of India".

"...let me just tell you, his (Holbrooke's) portfolio
very much includes India and in fact, the Central Asian states
and the other neighbours there," Petraeus told a Congressional
committee.

US had earlier rejected reports that India, especially
Kashmir, was also part of Holbrooke's agenda.

"There are people who have rightly said that Ambassador
Holbrooke's title should be Afghanistan, Pakistan and India,"
Petraeus said.

He said the US has been trying to impress upon Pakistan
that India is not their real threat and that New Delhi has
shown remarkable restraint even after provocative terrorist
activities in recent years.

"India did indeed show impressive restraint in the wake
of the Mumbai attacks. I mean, that was a 9/11 moment for
them. In fact, they did not ratchet up the tensions," he said.

Petraeus said many observers "correctly assess" that
India played a very constructive role in avoiding a further
increase in tensions that might have been understandable given
the death inflicted on its innocent civilians in Mumbai.

The US military general said both Ambassador Holbrooke
and he have met with External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and
others and have been in constant touch with them.

"And we obviously work very closely of course, with the
PACOM commander, when we're doing this on the military side,"
he said.

"Ambassador Holbrooke's first trip to the region, for
example, didn't include just Afghanistan and Pakistan. It then
continued on into India. It had my deputy with him for those.
Then it brought the PACOM deputy out, in fact, to do the final
two stops," he said.

Responding to a question, General Petraeus said there are
certain organisations which would like the Kashmir dispute to
remain unresolved.

"They have built their existence on the basis of the
need, if you will, to continue to carry out violent
activities," he said. "If that could be done, frankly, in the
same way as we look at the Mideast peace process" it can help
enormously, he said.