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International Herald Tribune


November 15, 2010


The Kashmir Trap


Kudos to Arundhati Roy (“Kashmir’s fruits of discord,” Views, Nov. 10) for giving badly needed exposure to the desperate plight of the people of Kashmir, and to what is going on there.


This 60-year-old dispute between Pakistan and India deeply impacts America’s role in the region. Pakistan’s efforts in combating what the United States perceives as terrorists is selective because, plain and simple, it is all about Kashmir. And Afghanistan is the proxy through which the fight over Kashmir continues.


To the Pakistanis, the former mujahedeen and the Afghan Taliban groups are used to attack, and to keep the pressure on, India over Kashmir. To counter, India supports and arms remnants of the Northern Alliance that were formed to fight the Taliban and uses them to harass Pakistan.


As long as the Kashmir sore festers, the United States will be caught in the middle. Reduce Pakistan and India’s role in Afghanistan by bringing them together to resolve Kashmir and then just maybe, the nine-year war in Afghanistan will finally become a local, rather than a regional dispute, allowing the brave U.S. service personnel to come home.


Fariborz S. Fatemi


McLean, Virginia