Qaeda may try to provoke India-Pakistan conflict

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - When Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week al Qaeda and its allies might try to provoke a conflict between India and Pakistan, he articulated what many see as the biggest risk to U.S. plans for the region.

A major attack on India by Islamist militants could lead to retaliation by a country still bruised by last year's assault on Mumbai, further destabilizing nuclear-armed Pakistan.

"The Pakistanis are really frustrated. They keep being told to 'do more'," said Kamran Bokhari at U.S. think-tank Stratfor.

He said Pakistan was worried about the possibility of another militant attack on India but unsure how to prevent it.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B62F620091207

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This could be real trouble.

[pocoloco]

1. US plans for the area?

Keeping the area safe for outsourcing?

[jtylerpittman]

8. who wants it to be a domestic call when you call for tech support

not me

[Deja Q]

13. That is a cynical, but valid, question.

I don't want to think it's about that, and it damn well shouldn't BE about that.

[closeupready]

2. I guess Kashmir serves as the neocon's newest boogeyman.

Whether it's something new to be fearful about is unclear to me.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. You may be exactly right about that

It could be that the avalanche of questions about why we are in Afghanistan provoked by the latest escalation is something that needed to be improved. The Al Queda bogeyman was losing it's effectiveness so they spitballed a new bogeyman and decided India v. Pakistan might do nicely.

[jtylerpittman]

4. I really hope India would be smart enough to know not to attack Pakistan

It is in India's interest for the current Government in Pakistan to stay in power. If India were to attack they could cause critical damage to the Pakistani Government and what ever replaces it would be much much worse for India.

[Xithras]

6. Perhaps, but India has to abide by its own popular will, as well.

India is a country that already has some deep internal divisions which occasionally erupt into rioting and have destabilized the country in the past. India also has one of the lowest ratios of soldiers to overall population of any country in the world.

If there were major attacks on India and Pakistan were blamed, the Indian government may face a no-win choice...attack Pakistan to sate its population, or face a popular uprising as people lose faith with a government that a huge portion of the population already dislikes. The government doesn't have the soldiers to quell a popular uprising, and it's not even clear that the soldiers they do have would support the government if it were refusing to retaliate against a perceived attack by Pakistan.

[jtylerpittman]

7. I hope india's people don't have a death wish then

They could defeat Pakistan but it would be at a very high cost

[closeupready]

16. Sometimes, I think they forget that.

You read these stories about a minority group of India's business students reading Mein Kampf for inspiration, and it's like What The Fuck. :wtf: (No, sadly, I am not making that up.)

I don't think there is any question that India is better-equipped militarily.

At the same time, Pakistan has plenty of firepower in its own arsenal for defensive purposes, and also to ensure that any future Partition is equally painful to India, regardless of the outcome.

All that aside, every Pakistani I know (and I know a lot) just wants peace. Out of 200 million Pakistanis, I am sure there are those who enjoy the violence, but they are in a vast minority.

[Deja Q]

14. !

:(

[earcandle]

5. And who funds Al Qaeda? Follow the money.. or maybe follow the message?

So Robert Gates has an inside contact with Al Qaeda?  How
convenient.
Super Duper Gates and the winning Fates! 

[alfredo]

12. It will lead to Saudi Arabia. Gates does have access to

intelligence that could lead him to that opinion. He could be lying just to give Pakistan some deniability.

[rug]

9. For what purpose?

[BeFree]

10. Last week

Before the surge decision was made public, the heads of state of India came to see Mr. Obama.

Coincidence?

What does India think about what the US is doing over there?
Does India want us there?

We never discuss this matter.

[alfredo]

11. Maybe just saying that could defuse the situation.

[Sebastian Doyle]

15. Gates, shut the fuck up.

The CIA and their Pakistani franchise the ISI might well provoke an India/Pakistan conflict, but the Osama Bin Dead for Seven Fucking Years Imaginary Terraist Army isn't doing shit.

[951-Riverside]

The CIA is out of control!

[Occam Bandage]

17. What would that accomplish for them?

I don't recall OBL ever claiming that it was his desire to see the umma vaporized.