Al-Qaeda is seeking to destabilize the entire South Asia region and could trigger a new war between Pakistan and India, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters in New Delhi yesterday.
Groups under al-Qaeda’s “syndicate” in Afghanistan and Pakistan — which includes the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba — are trying “to destabilize not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act,” Gates said.
“It’s important to recognize the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces,” he added following talks with his Indian counterpart, A.K. Antony.
“It’s dangerous to single out any one of these groups and say, ‘If we can beat that group, that will solve the problem,’ because they are in effect a syndicate of terrorist operators intended to destabilize this entire region,” Gates said.
When one group succeeds in carrying out an attack, all of them gain in capability and reputation, he said, adding: “A victory for one is a victory for all.”
Gates said no nation was immune from terror.
Reflecting anxiety in the region about New Delhi’s reaction if it were attacked by a militant group with roots in Pakistan, Gates said restraint by India could not be counted on.
Gates praised both nations for their restraint in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but cautioned that it might not hold.
“It is not unreasonable to assume that Indian patience would be limited were there another attack,” he said.
Gates has also reassured leaders in New Delhi that Washington would not abandon Afghanistan despite a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops. He said the US would remain committed to Kabul with major economic and diplomatic support even as its military presence is gradually scaled back.
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