America must end its “irrational relationship” with Pakistan and strengthen ties with India according to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) in a letter published in the New York Times on Thursday.
Rohrabacher, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee on Oversight and Investigations, wrote the letter to support ideas outlined in an article entitled “Can Russia Help Us Withdraw From Afghanistan?” written by a former Bush undersecretary of defense and the executive director of an American national security think tank.
Rohrabacher seconded the notion of working more closely with Russia in Afghanistan to carve a safer northern route for Afghan supplies which would also serve to avoid convoy-protection payments to Taliban-linked warlords. Rohrabacher writes:
An American-Russian alignment based on opposition to Islamic extremism would provide a common interest to underpin a positive reset of relations.
Rohrabacher’s inclination to partner with Russia is interesting given his former role as a speechwriter for President Reagan whose administration supported Pakistani-trained jihadists against the Soviets during the 1980s.
The CIA, in one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history, pumped billions into funding and arming mujahideen “freedom fighters” to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan in 1989 – an operation that many argue helped fan the very extremism bedeviling NATO today.
Rohrabacher also advocated pivoting towards Delhi because not only do India and the U.S. share common regional objectives, they share the same adversaries as well (whether China knows it or not):
New Delhi is a friend and a potential ally. India is a democracy with security interests in line with ours against Pakistan, a radical Islamic terrorist state and an ally of a menacing China.
U.S. and Pakistani relations have sunk to all-time lows recently after a NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers a couple of weeks ago.
More articles on U.S.-Pakistani “Trust Deficit”
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