WASHINGTON : The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensionsbetween India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan,where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years ofwar with Taliban insurgents.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has been publicly focused onlowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a Feb. 14 suicidecar bomb in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir triggered the first Indianair strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.
Senior US officials told Reuters that as the United States spoke withsenior Pakistani officials, emphasizing the need to lower the risk ofconflict with India, Islamabad privately offered warnings on Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials said their ability to support Afghan peace talks couldbe in jeopardy in the event of a full-blown crisis, US officials said,speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They’ll stop being a facilitator, they will stop the pressure they areapplying” on the Taliban, one US official said, recounting Pakistaniwarnings conveyed to Washington.
Pakistan has publicly denied any role in the suicide bombing. But thePakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibilityfor it, and India has long accused Islamabad of supporting them.
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The United States has likewise accused Pakistan of ties to Talibanmilitants who are fighting in neighboring Afghanistan against American andUS-backed Afghan government forces.
Reuters has previously reported, however, that U.S. officials have recentlyseen a positive shift in Pakistan’s behavior.
Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan,has played a behind-the-scenes role in supporting US peace talks with theAfghan Taliban, including by facilitating travel to negotiations.
Current and former US officials caution that Islamabad could again chooseto act as a spoiler. – Agencies
