'Get Indian, Pakistan armies together'

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s new pick to head the country’s Central Command has a novel suggestion on how to bridge the trust deficit between India and Pakistan: Get Army officers of both countries to attend military classes in the US together. And study American civil war.

“As we all know, they have fought several wars over a number of issues. There’s the Kashmir issue. There’s any number of terrorist attacks. But I think the most important thing we can do in support of the diplomatic efforts ... is to help bring the officer corps of both militaries together and create trust between them, allow them to perhaps attend our school together,” General James Mattis, head of US Joint Forces Command, commented at his Senate confirmation hearing.

“And if  they do, they get to know each other there and even do some of the things we’ve done elsewhere in the world where we bring different sides during frozen conflicts together,” Mattis said.

Mattis did not stop there, opting to go into some detail with his prescription.

“For example, at the Army School at Fort Leavenworth, they’re up at Carlisle Barracks, and let them study our Civil War together. And after a few days, they start warming up. I think there are ways for us to build trust between officer corps that will help stabilise these issues, but it’s fundamentally a political problem, not a military one of course.”

Brown, who had visited the Af-Pak region some time ago, brought up the water dispute between India and Pakistan and wondered if the US could play a role to calm the rising tensions on this score.  

In the course of his testimony, Mattis noted that China and India, in addition to Russia and Turkey, increasingly exert major influences within the CENTCOM region. In the US’ scheme of things, India falls in the jurisdiction of the Pacific Command, while countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan come under the Central Command.

In a written answer to a question on the impact of US-India military cooperation on Pakistan, Mattis said, “We make clear to Pakistan that our military cooperation and engagement is not a threat to it and that this is not a zero-sum game. We have important relationships and strategic partnerships with both countries that are not at the expense of either.”