NEW DELHI: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy on Af-Pak, is finding the going very difficult when it comes to India. For the second time in a month, Holbrooke has had "scheduling" problems in India.
The foreign office has told Holbrooke in very polite diplomatic terms that he cannot walk in and out of India at will. Holbrooke, senior officials said, had a habit of unilaterally deciding when he wanted to come to India and then demanding to see his top foreign policy interlocutors.
| Remember folks, he's a diplomat ... |
The MEA found it offensive, to say the least. Consequently, Holbrooke has discovered that soon after he announces to the world about his India travel plans, the relevant officials are invariably unavailable.
Holbrooke will be visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan starting on August 15, but will, once again, skip India. And this after having announced three weeks ago that he would be in India in mid-August.
Senior government sources, speaking on background, said Holbrooke's mandate did not include India, so there was little need for him to visit India every time he was in the region. "It sends the wrong signals of hyphenation that we want to avoid," they said.
Holbrooke, said sources, tried hard to come along with secretary of state Hillary Clinton during her maiden visit here last month but was discouraged. Sources said he tried hard to get Clinton to visit Pakistan, but between Clinton and Barack Obama, there was a decision to deal with India without the Pakistan baggage. So that did not happen either, much to Pakistan's chagrin.
| Pakistan baggage. I like the sound of that ... |
He had announced that he would visit India after Clinton's visit, but that did not happen. Answering questions at a press conference in Washington at the end of July, Holbrooke, however, denied any "complications". "There were no complications. I have three or four people in India who are my main policy interlocutors. All but one of them were going to be out of the country, so..." Then he had said he would be in India in mid-August.
On Wednesday, Holbrooke was once again telling an audience in Washington that his trip to the region involved only Pakistan and Afghanistan, not India. Describing India as a "dominant power" in South Asia, Holbrooke said the Obama administration was keeping New Delhi informed about its policies in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. "The Indians are a major factor in the region. They are a dominant power," he said. |