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The Financial Times


US foreign policy should reflect fight against al-Qaeda


Published: July 7 2010 05:16 | Last updated: July 7 2010 05:16


From Mr Fariborz S. Fatemi


Sir, In your editorial “Countdown starts in Afghanistan” (July 1) you state that “to retrieve a menacing situation” in Afghanistan, among other things, there must be a “detente between India and Pakistan – above all over Kashmir”. You hit the nail right on the head. But you would never know it if you listened to the Washington foreign policy circles (“experts”, think-tanks and 24-hour news media).


India has more than a half a million soldiers in the disputed territory of Kashmir and mostly unreported, daily clashes occur between Pakistan and India. Pakistan for years has been using irregular forces such as the Taliban (former Mujahideen fighters against the Soviet Union) and others, fuelled by Saudi money and Wahhabi madrasas, to fight India’s occupation of Kashmir. India in turn is using its influence in Afghanistan’s tribal areas, spilling into Pakistan to counter the Pakistanis.


As long as the Kashmir sore festers, Afghanistan will continue to bleed and the US will continue to sink into this never-ending quagmire.


Vice-president Joe Biden had it right: the US should have gone after al-Qaeda from the very start. This aim was botched so badly by the Bush/Cheney administration that as a result al-Qaeda has now metastasised to more than 60 countries. So the fight with al-Qaeda is what America’s foreign policy should reflect.


Fariborz S. Fatemi,


McLean, VA, US


Former professional staff member


House Foreign Affairs Committee,


Senate Foreign Relations Committee