India’s Terror Stance Vexes Obama Amid Voter Ire at Pakistan

[Coventina]

Source: Bloomberg

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- India’s 670 million voters may be about to set back President Barack Obama’s campaign against Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

India’s ruling Congress Party, which heeded U.S. calls to avoid threatening its neighbor after November’s Mumbai terrorist attack, is heading for elections that might push it from office. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which accuses Congress of a “soft approach” toward terrorism, says India should consider blockading Pakistan’s main port and severing ties unless the government extradites 20 suspected militants.

A less cooperative India would hamper Obama’s effort to keep Pakistan’s army focused on fighting the Taliban and other guerrillas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

(snip)

This month, Pakistan ceded effective control of the Swat Valley, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Islamabad, in a truce with local Taliban. The Taliban’s gains threaten to further destabilize Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- and diminish pressure on al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who’s believed to be hiding in the region.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2us2qcyo9nw&refer=home

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You know, I'd be pretty upset if my next-door neighbor made a truce with the Taliban.