India 'financed problems' for Pakistan via Afghanistan: Chuck Hagel

[Med911]

Re: India ‘financed problems’ for Pakistan via Afghanistan: Chuck Hagel

@queer

i think the whole argument that a prosperous neighbour is a good neighbour applies if and only if there are strong trade/economic ties that make them mutually dependent, and there are no states-within-a-state running sabotage ops. kashmir is a big big hurdle to both of these, as you said.

as for the spread of instability, i don’t think afghanistan-pakistan and pakistan-india are comparable in terms of people movement, and ideologies of unrest. movements like sectarian hatred, shariah walas vs. secularists etc. that exist in both afghanistan and pakistan have nothing similar in indians to leap on to, its naxals, oppressed tribals, etc on this side. the border is completely fenced, other than the LoC, people movement is thru paperwork for most part, so foreign fighters can’t move in and settle down. the only troublemakers that get in historically have done so under the auspices of the powerful pak army. so an army distracted on another front is not bad for indians on the short term.

long term, its extremely bad news for indians to have something like today’s afghanistan next door. hopefully that will never happen.

my feeling is, india is going to push for leverage wherever it can whenever it can, especially along the LoC, and try to bargain for a permanent settlement.

Your argument is that it serves India’s interest to have an unstable neighbor, as there is no significant trade/economic relations to warrant the desire for stability in said neighbor?

Strong trade/economic ties are something to be desired last I checked. I dont see how you could possibly benefit from instability anywhere in the world, let alone next door.

Instability means problems where Indian and Pakistani interests overlap, ie Kashmir. The potential for an all out conflict that could potentially wreck your economy is far more likely if your neighbor is unstable. If your argument is for perpetuation of the status quo, well the status quo got you the attacks on the Parliament, Mumbai, 2 major wars, and millions of people literally being held hostage by thousands of your soldiers… It astounds me that a nation with such aspirations, with such lofty ideals, has no problem with what it does in Kashmir… Do the recurring accusations of human rights violations not shame you?