Saturday, November 29, 2008

Governments of India and Pakistan Need to Keep Talking: The Region Doesn't Need a War Between Two Nuclear Powers

Indians are asking exactly the same questions of their government that many Americans were asking after the 9/11 disaster in this country. "Why did the government fail to protect us?"

The Indian news media is reporting that the government knew a major attack was coming, but took no steps to warn their people that a disaster of this magnitude might happen in the near future. They kept their silence in the same way that the Bush Administration ignored the previous administration here about how dangerous al-Qaeda was and that an airborne terrorist attack might be mounted.

And India seems to be pointing the finger of blame at Pakistan, even as Pakistan attempted to ratchet down the rhetoric and keep everything low-key. They dispatched their intelligence chief to New Delhi to speak with his Indian counterpart, an act that many Pakistanis were unhappy with, but did so regardless of how it looked in Islamabad.

And Pakistan's president has promised to take action if it is proven that elements in his country were involved. Asif Ali Zardari is the husband of former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto, who was also killed by terrorists last year.

India and Pakistan need to be talking, not arguing and then fighting. They're both nuclear powers, and blowing one another off the map won't help matters. Pakistan really needs to come down on it's extremists, and India must do the same.

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