Despite its importance, Russia’s perspective on the war in Afghanistan has typically been missing from previous analyses of coalition policy. Moscow views Afghanistan largely through the prism of security threats to itself and its Central Asian neighborhood.
The Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has had operational interests in Afghanistan since 2006, and the potential for collaboration between LeT, al-Qaeda, and various pro-Taliban elements is increasing.
A less costly and more effective way for the international coalition to overcome the impasse in Afghanistan is a negotiated agreement with the Taliban, which could pave the way for a unity government.
Recent arrests of high-profile Afghan Taliban leadership by Pakistan do not indicate a strategic change in Pakistan’s counterterrorism strategy.
Pakistan's support of terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba has stymied the India-Pakistan peace process, hindered U.S.-Pakistan relations, and threatens to undermine any attempts to create stability in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has not taken the necessary steps to dismantle the terrorist group which perpetrated the Mumbai attacks, Lashkar-e-Tayiba, whose network is spreading beyond South Asia and which poses a particular threat to India.
Continued Pakistani support for the terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) threatens to undermine the delicate peace between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan and plunge the region into conflict, with significant consequences for American interests abroad.
Security and social order in Afghanistan are continuing to deteriorate, especially in the north, and negotiating with the Taliban may become the only viable option for a sustainable peace.
The conference in London failed to suggest viable solutions to the real problems facing Afghanistan, including President Karzai’s lack of credibility, the prevalence of local corruption, and the fragmentation of power into the hands of armed local militias.
American assistance to India should not be conditioned principally on notions of strict or specific reciprocity. Supporting India is in the larger geopolitical interest of the United States.