US general will visit New Delhi: Military co-operation
By Tahir Mirza - DAWN

WASHINGTON, May 3: Reports that the United States was on the brink of resuming military co-operation with India were confirmed on Thursday when it was revealed that the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry H. Shelton, would visit New Delhi later this month to work on a closer relationship between the two countries' military forces.

Indian ambassador Lalit Mansingh made the disclosure in an interview with The Washington Times, which said that Indo-US military co-operation, cut off after the nuclear tests in 1998, had never before been conducted at such a significant level...

PAKISTAN: Where Pakistan is concerned, The Washington Times story carrying the Indian envoy's interview says the country's decline into martial law, its tolerance of "terrorist groups" operating in Kashmir, its support for the Taliban and "chronic corruption and economic stagnation "have made it less attractive as an ally". This view is echoed by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies which expressed the opinion on Wednesday that the US had doubts about the effectiveness of a supportive policy towards Pakistan in view of the weakness of the Pakistani state.

The latest issue of the centre's journal, South Asia Monitor, says senior US officials stress that the United States has no intention of "abandoning" Pakistan in pursuit of closer ties with India. However, relations with the United States "will remain troubled by Afghanistan's unwillingness to release Osama bin Laden to American justice and Pakistan's inability to change Afghan policy and its stance toward militant organizations that operate in Kashmir".

Think-tank views may not be considered as being always unbiased and they are certainly influenced by America's own strategic considerations and common American perceptions of international affairs. But they are given consideration by US policy-makers and are seen as providing an invaluable input, a fact that lends them importance. The South Asia Monitor piece on Pakistan is co-authored by Karthik Nagarajan and Ambassador Teresita Schaffer.

South Asia Monitor expresses appreciation of efforts made by the military government to reform the economy and rebuild institutions, and says: "The Musharraf regime can take satisfaction in its progress in managing the country's precarious economy, and knows that the remedy to Pakistan's ills must come from within the country. But its concept of Pakistan's security is still a limited one, centred on military defences, Kashmir, and the threat from India. Pakistan's poverty, its economic fragility, and especially the challenge to the authority of the state may represent a greater risk to Pakistan's integrity than more conventional military questions. Unless these questions are addressed with the same urgency, Pakistan faces a future dangerous for itself and for the region."