The US should involve India in any strategy aimed at resolving the Afghanistan problem, a top American General has said, advocating a regional approach for confronting the issue of violent extremism in the war-ravaged country and neighbouring Pakistan.
General Petraeus, who oversaw the war in Iraq, contended that the Afghan problem cannot be seen in isolation, especially in view of the country's intertwined relationship with US ally Pakistan.
"There is an increasing recognition that the threat that violent extremism poses is a much greater challenge to Pakistan
than its traditional rival India. Afghanistan and Pakistan has in many ways emerged as a single problem set,"
Petraeus said.
He said the US-led global "war against terror" in the country cannot be won without evolving a strategy for Pakistan
and
involving India.
"A way forward in Afghanistan is incomplete, without a strategy that includes and assists Pakistan"... and involves
India, the general said addressing a conference on the key foreign policy challenges of the incoming Obama
administration.
Advocating a regional approach to the problem, he said the partners in the war on terror "would have to develop and
execute a regional strategy that includes Pakistan, India, the Central Asian countries and even China and Russia along with perhaps at some point Iran".
The daylong conference was organised by the United States Institute of Peace