Peace Process: Kashmir Edition

The New York Times had an interesting report Sunday on the pervasive fear in Pakistan that the U.S. is in cahoots with Afghanistan and India to break up their country. To put Pakistan at ease, some are calling for U.S.-led efforts to "regionalize" the problem:

American military commanders, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, have started to argue forcefully that the solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, where the American war effort looks increasingly uncertain, must involve a wide array of neighbors.

Mr. Obama has said much the same. Several times in his campaign, he laid out the crux of his thinking. Reducing tensions between Pakistan and India would allow Pakistan to focus on the real threat — the Qaeda and Taliban militants who are tearing at the very fabric of the country.

“If Pakistan can look towards the east with confidence, it will be less likely to believe its interests are best advanced through cooperation with the Taliban,” Mr. Obama wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine last year.

Daniel Larison, rounding up reaction among a number of Indian writers, says the prognosis for such a gambit is grim.

Should we be heartened or disheartened that what began seven years ago as a military effort to kill or capture a few hundred jihadists has blossomed into what could potentially be one of the most difficult diplomatic gambits in history?