Manmohan Singh US Visit, Advice To Pakistan, China

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India has enduring civilizational links with Afghanistan. India will continue to assist Afghanistan in building its institutions and With these two sentences, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday threw down the gauntlet to Washington, Islamabad and perhaps even Beijing and other world capitals that India would not be budged from pursuing its interests in Afghanistan -- primarily of preventing the country from turning toxic under Pakistan’s malignant influence and American uncertainty.....Reported By TOI on 22 Nov 2009.

“The road to peace on Afghanistan will be long and hard. But given the high stakes involved, the commitment of the international community must be sustained by firm resolve and unity of purpose." Singh told Washington’s top policy wonks gathered to hear him at the Center for Foreign Relations, amid a continuing review by President Obama about U.S options in Afghanistan.

The remarks were clearly meant for the US President and his principals who have been bashing heads for several weeks now over next steps in Afghanistan amid charges of dithering on the crucial issue. Singh’s advice ahead of his meeting with Obama on Tuesday -- Stay the course; we are going to be there.

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, there has been a deluge of commentary from the many policy advice institutions in Washington DC, a city famously said to have more thinktanks in it than many countries have battle tanks. Advice to the Obama administration ranges from the bold — support India for a UN Security Council seat (from Ashley Tellis of Carnegie Endowment) to the brazen — get India to play an even bigger role in Afghanistan (from Selig Harrison of Woodrow Wilson International Center).