He called for Pakistan-Afghan-US collaboration to address cross-border issue. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The US diplomat, in an interview with BBC Urdu Service in Washington, recognised the cross-border infiltration of hostile elements into Pakistan from the Afghan side. “The dominant infiltration of militants is from Pakistan into Afghanistan, but we recognise that there is some infiltration of hostile militants from the other direction as well. So Pakistan’s concerns aren’t groundless. They are simply, in our judgement, somewhat exaggerated,”
Dobbins said, according to a BBC news story. Islamabad has long voiced its concerns about Indian moves to establish consulates in the Afghan cities of Jalalabad and Kandahar, close to Pakistani western border. Dobbins, though, said the Indian presence in Afghan cities was minuscule and claimed it was ‘perfectly reasonable’ because of their economic and cultural ties. He called for Pakistan-Afghan-US collaboration to address cross-border issue. “We believe that Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US need to collaborate much more closely to deal with this threat of cross-border infiltration.”
On Afghan reconciliation, he said President Hamid Karzai was ‘quite warm’ to the idea of talking to the Taliban and had asked Pakistan to facilitate contact between the Afghan High Peace Council and the insurgents. The US diplomat said he hoped that the talks could begin within the next three months.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 8th, 2013.
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@Syedpk: First, fence the 20% that is not on Mountains. That makes it quite difficult to cross the border. If militants are able cross the mountains on foot, it should be possible for the army to fence those routes too. Thereafter, if armies on both sides cooperate, the infiltration of militants can be totally stopped.
@feroz
are you crazy ?? Do you really think a border that most probably like 80% on mountains can be fenced ???
Nothing so in the news part.
Pakistan wants to decide what consulates Afghanistan should have & where! Pakistan's concern on miniscule presence of India in Jalalabad may not be groundless however if Pakistan stops exporting terrorists to Afghanistan & India, she will have nothing to worry about.
The BBC link you provided gives the exact same news as in ET. Are you retarded or are you, well, retarded? With so much hate against India, some day you will blow up yourself in a suicide bombing in some market in Pakistan! Learn to accept your disastrous country's facts. All of what has happened in the past and what is happening today in Pakistan is all its own fault. If your country's army does not give direct or indirect support to cross-border terrorism, Pakistan will be at peace with all its neighbours.
@Ghulam: Too much reading between the lines or you don't know the meaning of minuscule?
India afghanistan ALL WEATHER FRIEND. and like china pakistan so what's the problem.
Now that Americans have also realized the game India is playing in Afghanistan, Pakistan must do everything in its power to have the Indians kicked out from there, and that too very soon!
James Dobbins has agreed that Pakistan's concerns are not groundless.
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Afghans from Pakistan should go their home and leave the Pakistan alone and India needs to work on improving the lives of it's burgeoning poor instead of spending billions to destabilize Pakistan. Do Indians know they have no future in Afghanistan after Nato leaves from that land?
It's called "Pinch the baby and rock the cradle."
The headline of this article is really dishonest. Dobbins said that because terrorists are entering from both sides into Pakistan it's concerns are not groundless. He further goes onto say that Pakistan's concerns are exaggerated. I think Pakistan should concentrate on improving the lot of its citizens. This will make sure that It will be safe from any outside mischief.
Indian interference in Afghanistan is a concern for Pakistan only, but Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan is a concern for Afghanistan, India, US, UK and the rest of the world, So we should concentrate on the expulsion of Pakistan's Interference from Afghanistan not India's.
The infiltration from Afghanistan is higher than the infiltration from Pakistan. The TTP and its affiliated groups are testimony to the bomb blasts and loss of lives in Pakistan. Saying that Pakistan's concerns are an exaggeration is overstating the ridiculous. Salams
Sign of Pak appeasement by USA . They are softening their stand. with an effort to balance the relation with India too
The headline is totally misleading. The statement below points to something else.
James Dobbins has said Islamabad’s fears are ‘not groundless’. But where did he say Islamabad's concern regarding Indian presence is not groundless.... all he was saying is "The dominant infiltration of militants is from Pakistan into Afghanistan, but we recognize that there is some infiltration of hostile militants from the other direction as well." So he was voicing his concern about infiltration from Pakistan side to Afghanistan and vice versa but where did he bring India into picture???? Rather he said "the Indian presence in Afghan cities was minuscule and claimed it was ‘perfectly reasonable’ because of their economic and cultural ties."
Bottom line is the headline is misleading................
Total disconnect between the headline and what is said in the news. The US envoy actually says that India's presence in Afghanistan are minuscule and also "perfectly reasonable". Also, that most of the infiltration of terrorists is taking place from Pakistan to Afghanistan and the infiltration of terrorists from Afghanistan to Pakistan is not that much and is exaggerated by Pakistan. Additionally, the envoy did not say that India is responsible for any infiltration of terrorists from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
I would add that it may not stay that way long if infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan to Afghanistan and India continues. In that case, both Afghanistan and India may find common ground and device a common strategy to counter Pakistan.
Will the obsession with controlling Afghanistan derail a much bigger Pakistan, is the million dollar question. What has stopped Pakistan from fencing the border to prevent movement of radicals from both sides ?