RAW supports Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, acknowledges Indian analyst in top daily
Bharat Karnad writes US secretary of defence will urge India to "moderate its support for the TTP"
PHOTO: Reuters/File
An Indian analyst, in a piece published in Hindustan Times, has acknowledged that the Indian spy agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has ties with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Bharat Karnad, professor for national security studies at the Centre for Policy Research and author of "Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)", writes, "Severing relations with TTP will mean India surrendering an active card in Pakistan and a role in Afghanistan as TTP additionally provides access to certain Afghan Taliban factions."
India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, Pakistan tells world leaders
This, he added, together with "the Abdul Ghani regime’s desire for India’s presence and the tested friendship with Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Tajik-dominated ‘Northern Alliance’, ensures that no solution for peace in Afghanistan can be cobbled together without India’s help".
Discussing US secretary of defence, Lieutenant General (retd) James Mattis' trip to India starting September 25, Karnad wrote, "As a former head of the US Central Command Mattis appreciates Pakistan’s indispensability as base for military operations to bring the Taliban in Afghanistan to their knees. But Islamabad has insisted that India’s role in Afghanistan be restricted and complained about the Indian support for the TTP accused by Islamabad of terrorism in Pakistan. The RAW-TTP link was publicly revealed in April this year by its former commander, Ehsanullah Ehsan."
Pakistan lobbying in UN to get India declared state sponsor of terror
The analyst believes that Mattis would request India to moderate its support for the TTP as it is s useful as an Indian counterpart of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Muhammad. However, he maintained that the US official returning home empty-handed would not hurt relations with the US at all because there’s China; and the US needs India to strategically hinder it.
Bharat Karnad, professor for national security studies at the Centre for Policy Research and author of "Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)", writes, "Severing relations with TTP will mean India surrendering an active card in Pakistan and a role in Afghanistan as TTP additionally provides access to certain Afghan Taliban factions."
India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, Pakistan tells world leaders
This, he added, together with "the Abdul Ghani regime’s desire for India’s presence and the tested friendship with Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Tajik-dominated ‘Northern Alliance’, ensures that no solution for peace in Afghanistan can be cobbled together without India’s help".
Discussing US secretary of defence, Lieutenant General (retd) James Mattis' trip to India starting September 25, Karnad wrote, "As a former head of the US Central Command Mattis appreciates Pakistan’s indispensability as base for military operations to bring the Taliban in Afghanistan to their knees. But Islamabad has insisted that India’s role in Afghanistan be restricted and complained about the Indian support for the TTP accused by Islamabad of terrorism in Pakistan. The RAW-TTP link was publicly revealed in April this year by its former commander, Ehsanullah Ehsan."
Pakistan lobbying in UN to get India declared state sponsor of terror
The analyst believes that Mattis would request India to moderate its support for the TTP as it is s useful as an Indian counterpart of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Muhammad. However, he maintained that the US official returning home empty-handed would not hurt relations with the US at all because there’s China; and the US needs India to strategically hinder it.