'India, Pak should seek proxy peace in Afghan'

Warning that India and Pakistan face mutual risk from instability and extremist elements in Afghanistan, a former top United States diplomat has said it is high time the two countries seek 'proxy peace' in the war-torn nation and jointly deal with the situation there.

"There is discussion about a so-called proxy war between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan. I hope that that is not the case. What I would like to see for India and Pakistan is to sit down and start discussing their mutual concerns and suspicion about each other in what is taking place in Afghanistan," said Karl Inderfurth, former US assistant secretary of state for south Asia.

Inderfurth, who led the US policy on South Asia from 1997 to 2001, said there is no Afghanistan's future would have a major impact on both countries, for better or for worse.

"If there is no stability in Afghanistan, that will spill over to affect Pakistan and that would also have an impact on India," he said. Expressing concerns about news reports of Indo-Pak 'proxy war' in Afghanistan, Inderfurth said both New Delhi and Islamabad should be seeking 'proxy peace' in Afghanistan and they could have an important role to play in that regard.

He explained, "Proxy peace is to work together to ensure that the Afghan government is a sovereign government. There is non-interference in Afghanistan affairs to work with it in terms of meetings the challenges posed by extremist elements including the Taliban, to work with it in rebuilding a country that has been basically destroyed by three decades of conflict and to assure the Afghans that neither country intends to take actions that would be detrimental to Afghanistan's future."

Inderfurth, who was considered close to then President Bill Clinton, said India and Pakistan are "mutually at risk from the instability and the extremist elements in Afghanistan. So I think that they should have a common cause to deal with that together."

Praising India's positive role in Afghanistan in terms of rebuilding and civilian assistance to its government, he said, "I believe that Pakistan can play a similar positive role and if the two countries can join together in that, I think that it would mean a new possibility for Afghanistan to get out of the cycle of conflict and war and the interference that is being seen for so long."