Z Suleman Sadiq Gill was taken into custody on Sept 15, 2014 and accused of multiple offenses. He struggles with being labeled a criminal for the crime of free thought.
ON THE face of it, prospects for lasting peace in Afghanistan look as bleak as at any time in the 13 years since NATO-led forces ousted the Taliban—only for them to regroup in a long, bloody insurgency. Last year a record 3,700 civilians died in the fighting. As America and other NATO countries pull out their troops, Afghanistan’s own army, less well trained and equipped, is being hammered. It has struggled to find enough recruits to replace those who die or desert. And now the Taliban and other insurgents are preparing for a spring offensive.
Fortunately, this grim picture is not the whole story. The bright spot is the efforts made by Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan’s president since September, to improve his country’s tattered dealings with Pakistan. Closer relations hold out the tantalising possibility of making peace with the Taliban.
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From meddling to making
Peace in Afghanistan is inconceivable without help from Pakistan. Machinations by the Pakistani army’s spy agency in the 1990s helped bring the Taliban to power. The country’s military establishment still backs them and related groups, such as the Haqqani network, which have wreaked havoc in Afghanistan from their bases in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The Taliban’s senior leaders live unmolested in the Pakistani cities of Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi.
Yet whereas his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, went out of his way to taunt Pakistan, not least by flaunting his friendship with India, Mr Ghani is staking his political career on finding ways to work with it (see article). On a visit to Pakistan in November Mr Ghani broke with protocol by calling on the all-powerful army chief, General Raheel Sharif, as well as on the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif (who is no relation). Mr Ghani understands that General Sharif needs help to deal with Pakistan’s own terrorists, its version of a home-grown Taliban: a threat that Pakistani commanders and politicians for too long refused to acknowledge, but which was brought home by a murderous attack on a school in Peshawar in December that killed 132 children. So the Afghan president has sent forces to fight anti-Pakistan militants in their refuges in eastern Afghanistan, an unthinkable course under Mr Karzai. The army claims that it is now reciprocating by making it hard for Afghan militants to train in Pakistan. General Sharif is helping Afghan forces secure the long border. And he appears to be urging Taliban leaders to sit down with Mr Ghani and discuss peace.
There are good reasons for them to do so. Although the Taliban can cause mayhem inside Afghanistan, they struggle to hold territory. Last year’s election saw a clear vote against them and their violence. Plenty within the group have long been keen on a deal; talks were mooted in Qatar in 2013. Some Taliban might settle for more autonomy in the Pushtun heartland in southern Afghanistan, which is their main base of support. Many Afghans resent an overcentralised state.
The goal, in the long run, should be a new constitutional settlement. If he hopes to fix a fractious, multi-ethnic country and lay the foundations for peace and prosperity, Mr Ghani must come round to the idea that power should be devolved. All sorts of other issues will arise, including education for girls, which the Taliban abhor. But that is not for now. The urgent task is to get the two sides round a table. Pakistan is critical in achieving that—and China and America, acting in concert, could help press it into action. Moreover, outside powers, including Iran and India, must also make clear to both sides that they will stand behind a deal and offer plenty of economic assistance if one is done. Mr Ghani’s chance may prove fleeting. He deserves all the help he can get.
With the Taliban dominant, ISIS will have trouble making space in Pakistan—though the group is becoming more popular
The brutal methods that the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has become notorious for were already seen some years ago, first in Afghanistan and later in Pakistan, as the two branches of the Taliban in those countries took root. The Pakistani Taliban, in many ways, are the closest analogue of the terror group now expanding across the Arab world.
Formed in 2007, the Pakistani Taliban seized territory, imposed its own brutal brand of Islamic law, executed opponents — including landowners, politicians, and others they deemed to be guilty of crimes of “vulgarity” and “heresy”. Women from among the famous “dancing girls of Swat” were found dead, their bodies dumped in the central square of Swat’s main town. Preachers of Sufi Islam, a syncretic form of the religion that puts a heavy emphasis on ascetic practices, were brutally killed – their bodies cut apart and hanged publicly.
Beheadings were also a constant feature. When the Pakistani Taliban kidnapped over 100 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan in 2007, they severed the heads of many, especially the Shia soldiers. A sword was used to cut across both ways and the head then lifted from the torso. The bodies of journalists were also discovered in some cases, dumped, with bullet holes in their backs.
The Taliban, like ISIS, share a sectarian ideology. Those whom they do not deem to be in line with their brutal brand of Islam, they declare to be non-Muslims. Those who aren’t Muslims, they deem to be “worthy of being killed.” This has led to attacks on army officers and religious minorities of various stripes — Shia Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
The Taliban work closely with both al-Qaeda and long-established anti-Shiite groups like Sunni extremists Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. There is a lot of slippage between these groups; the boundaries between them are often ill-defined. Also, like ISIS, these groups will turn to kindap and ransom as a means of generating funds. Warren Weinstein, an American academic and development expert in his 70s, is still being held by al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas after having been sold up through various groups.
This makes Pakistan both an attractive breeding ground for ISIS, but also one that is so crowded out by entrenched terror groups that they may struggle to break into the market. “It’s an already busy landscape for militant groups,” says Simbal Khan, Pakistan scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington. “There’s no vacuum for a new group.”
That doesn’t mean they are not trying, and in some cases, already finding success. The Pakistani government has issued reports warning that “ISIS” or “Daesh” (as it is known by its Arabic acronym) has collaborated with sectarian militant groups, like Jundallah and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, along the border with Iran. Elsewhere, in November 2014, a series of former Pakistani Taliban militants announced their allegiance to ISIS and al-Baghdadi.
In Pakistan’s second city of Lahore, graffiti has appeared celebrating ISIS. Government officials and analysts say this is a more a feature of ISIS propaganda than any evidence that the group has operational capacity in Pakistan. Still, that same month, a number of ISIS activists were arrested from Lahore — they are thought to have been former members of anti-Shiite organizations that have a foothold in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.
After the Peshawar massacre, where Taliban soldiers slaughtered nearly 150 people at a public school, there appears to be greater clarity among Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership about the need to fight terrorism. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced near the end of 2014 that there would no longer be any distinction made between “good militants” and “bad militants.” The policy of backing militants who attack Afghanistan and India while only fighting those who launched terror attacks at home in Pakistan would be reversed.
While the jury is still out on whether this will become official and lasting policy, the army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif — the most powerful man in Pakistan — has said that he will not allow a group like ISIS to establish a base inside Pakistan. They are watching events in the Arab world with mounting anxiety, but Pakistan and Afghanistan’s focus remains very much local for the moment. “The Pakistani leadership, in civvies and in uniform, are on one page,” says Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s Defense Minister. “We must fight for our existence, and the existence of all humanity
Islamic State militants reportedly have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi on Tuesday, just five miles away from an air base staffed by hundreds of U.S. Marines.
The identities of the victims are not clear, the local police chief told the BBC, but some are believed to be among the security forces that have been clashing with ISIS for control of the town. ISIS fighters reportedly captured most of the town last week.
Col. Qasim Obeidi, pleading for help from the Iraqi government and international community, said a compound that houses families of security personnel and officials is now under siege.
The reports come days after ISIS released a video purportedly showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians along a beach in Libya, sparking an international outcry, including commendation from Pope Francis, who called the killings "barbaric.”
On Friday, a media group linked to ISIS released a four-minute video titled "Peshmerga Captives in Kirkuk Province,” which purportedly showed Kurdish prisoners -- imprisoned in iron cages -- being driven around on trucks in Iraq, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The imagery of the prisoner convoy in orange uniforms was similar to the scenes of an execution of a Jordanian pilot. In a video released by ISIS two weeks ago, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh was shown being burned alive in a cage.
Al-Baghdadi, which is about 50 miles northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, is located about five miles from Ain al-Asad air base, where 400 U.S. military personnel are training Iraqi soldiers and Sunni tribesmen to take on ISIS. The base was raided last week by a small band of fighters, in what some experts believe may have been a probe in preparation for a full-scale attack.
The base has been the target of sporadic mortar fire in past weeks, and the jihadist army has been moving forces from its strongholds in Syria to Anbar Province, possibly setting the stage for a major clash with forces on the base that is now the sole bulwark between ISIS and Baghdad.
There are currently nearly 2,600 U.S. forces in Iraq, including about 450 who are training Iraqi troops at three bases across the country, including al-Asad. Forces from other coalition countries conduct the training at the fourth site, in the northern city of Irbil.
But even if Islamic State militants close in on the base, taking it would require a massive force, that would present a target for airstrikes, retired Col. Thomas Lynch, a National Defense University fellow, told Fox News.
An army officer said cooperation with neighbouring Afghanistan led to the arrest of the suspects [EPA]
Pakistan announced the arrest of 12 members of the Pakistani Taliban over their alleged involvement in a deadly attack on a Pakistani school, an army spokesman said.
Another nine members of what is believed to be a 27-member cell have already been killed, Major-General Asim Saleem Bajwa told a media briefing on Thursday.
Bajwa credited the cooperation by neighbouring Afghanistan - where six of the men were arrested based on tips from Pakistani intelligence.
"Our cooperation is growing," Bajwa said - particularly since the December 16 assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar that killed 150 people, mostly uniformed schoolchildren.
In the wake of that attack, both Pakistan and Afghanistan mutually pledged to work together and fight armed groups.
Previously the two neighbours routinely traded accusations that each was harbouring the other's fugitives in lawless tribal areas along their mutual border.
Islamic governance
The Taliban are a loose umbrella of dozens of local armed groups bent on toppling the Pakistani government and installing their own harsh brand of Islamic governance.
Taliban attacks have killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis in the past decade.
Bajwa, the army spokesman, said Pakistan has also been working closely with the Afghan government over the hunt for Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah - who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
He showed taped confessions from two of the arrested fighters, who said Fazlullah ordered the attack and assigned commanders.
He also identified a mosque prayer leader who sheltered the attackers the night before they stormed the school.
Bajwa claimed that an ongoing Pakistani army offensive launched last June against fighters in the North Waziristan tribal region was progressing well, saying that the fighters had been squeezed into a corner.
But he sought international community support for the ongoing fight against the fighters.
"I want to say that it is time for the world to do more for Pakistan," Bajwa said
A former Taliban commander who declared allegiance to ISIS was killed Monday in a drone strike in Afghanistan, two officials said.
Mullah Abdul Rauf and five others were killed, four of them Pakistani militants, the deputy governor of southern Helmand province Mohammed Jan Rasoulya said.
A senior Afghan security source confirmed Rauf's death.
Friday, February 6, 2015
So I am very fed up....with government, religion and the whole unholy combo. I have realized that my country is no different than it was 1000 years ago and is essentially a bunch of savages. I realize in publishing this, I will become an immediate target of the ISI and so when the first in this series is posted, I will leave Lahore and go on "vacation". Try and find me you fucks!
Marinade Theory: So what makes a good marinade is an acid, some flavor and a moisturizer. It is also the process by which most of the world achieves some sort of governance. Religion acts as the acid to open the pores and minds of the people. The flavor is the structure or so to speak of government and the moisturizer is economics: the every day pledge and strife for a better life: clean water, health care, food, safety. All of these work in concert to benefit the few at the cost of the masses. The ultimate goal is to keep those in power in power by any means. Even if it means rearing the head of an ugly straw man like Islamic fundamentalism. Does anyone think that there are not companies in the United States of America rejoicing each time an new ISIS threat is issued. Scared people open their pocket books for safety and the "peace" of religion. America has the advantages of a vastness and plentitude of resources so that even the lowest of low have more than the rest of the world. Pakistan has next to nothing. Few natural resources, too many people, massive corruption and an existential insecurity about India.
Pakistan:
Pakistan is an illusion built on the distorted illusion of the sanctity of Islam. Islam unto one self and in one's own head can be a beautiful thing. However, when it is spread amongst the masses like so much human fecal fertilizer, it begins to smell bad and result in despicable consequences.
Pakistan is a sham democracy. The real power is the power to kill or the military. The military puts up with the puppet democracy so it can suck the weapons and monetary teet of the Untied States. If the US wanted a true democracy it would not allow the military the might to kill every citizen three times over.
The message here is get in line or you will be imprisoned or killed. Islamic fundamentalism is not only tolerated but encourages so that the weapons and money will continue to flow, but can also be used to annoy and kill Indians (for reasons I do not understand).
Ultimately Pakistan was created by wealthy and prominent Muslims who were tired of the short straw from Hindu dominated India. The Partition had far more to do with economics than it did with some actual religious purpose. Of course that was put front and center at the time, but the reality of it is now in full view.
Pakistan is a militaristic, two-faced inept government that is dominated by savages. Need I mention Benazir Bhutto. On one hand they call them selves allies with America but in reality (and probably with America's consent and knowledge) they back room support all types of Islamic militant groups. Of all the famous jihadis (other than bin Laden) name anyone who is not Pakistani? Did bin Laden really hide or was he protected? Duh?
The lack of information and education allow this diaspora to remain. Most of the population is ignorant and practices a form of Islam that more resembles voodoo that any real established religion. Where and why do honor killings occur? Those morons believe that they are doing God's will.
In highly unusual testimony inside the federal supermax prison, a former operative for Al Qaeda has described prominent members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family as major donors to the terrorist network in the late 1990s and claimed that he discussed a plan to shoot down Air Force One with a Stinger missile with a staff member at the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
The Qaeda member, Zacarias Moussaoui, wrote last year to Judge George B. Daniels of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over a lawsuit filed against Saudi Arabia by relatives of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said he wanted to testify in the case, and after lengthy negotiations with Justice Department officials and the federal Bureau of Prisons, a team of lawyers was permitted to enter the prison and question him for two days last October.
In a statement Monday night, the Saudi Embassy said that the national Sept. 11 commission had rejected allegations that the Saudi government or Saudi officials had funded Al Qaeda.
Photo
From left, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Prince Turki al-Faisal and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal were all said to be on a list of donors to Al Qaeda.CreditFrom left, Hassan Ammar/Associated Press; Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
“Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent,” the statement said. “His words have no credibility.”
Mr. Moussaoui received a diagnosis of mental illness by a psychologist who testified on his behalf, but he was found competent to stand trial on terrorism charges. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 and is held in the most secure prison in the federal system, in Florence, Colo. Mr. Moussaoui’s accusations could not be verified.
The allegations from Mr. Moussaoui come at a sensitive time in Saudi-American relations, less than two weeks after the death of the country’s longtime monarch, King Abdullah, and the succession of a half-brother, King Salman.
There has often been tension between Saudi leaders and the Obama administration since the Arab uprisings of 2011 and the efforts to manage the region’s resulting turmoil. Mr. Moussaoui describes meeting in Saudi Arabia with Salman, then a prince, and other Saudi royals while delivering them letters from Osama bin Laden.
There has long been evidence that wealthy Saudis provided support for bin Laden, the son of a Saudi construction magnate, and Al Qaeda before the 2001 attacks. Saudi Arabia had worked closely with the United States to finance Islamic militants fighting the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and Al Qaeda drew its members from those militant fighters.
But the extent and nature of Saudi involvement in Al Qaeda, and whether it extended to the planning and financing of the Sept. 11 attacks, has long been a subject of dispute.
Mr. Moussaoui’s testimony, if judged credible, provides new details of the extent and nature of that support in the pre-9/11 period. In more than 100 pages of testimony, filed in federal court in New York on Monday, he comes across as calm and largely coherent, though the plaintiffs’ lawyers questioning him do not challenge his statements.
“My impression was that he was of completely sound mind — focused and thoughtful,” said Sean P. Carter, a Philadelphia lawyer with Cozen O’Connor who participated in the deposition on behalf of the plaintiffs. He said that the lawyers needed to get a special exemption from the “special administrative measures” that keep many convicted terrorists in federal prisons from communicating with outsiders.
The French-born Mr. Moussaoui was detained weeks before Sept. 11 on immigration charges in Minnesota, so he was incarcerated at the time of the attacks. Earlier in 2001, he had taken flying lessons and was wired $14,000 by a Qaeda cell in Germany, evidence that he might have been preparing to become one of the hijackers.
He said in the prison deposition that he was directed in 1998 or 1999 by Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan to create a digital database of donors to the group. Among those he said he recalled listing in the database were Prince Turki al-Faisal, then the Saudi intelligence chief; Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States; Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, a prominent billionaire investor; and many of the country’s leading clerics.
“Sheikh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money,” he said in imperfect English — “who is to be listened to or who contributed to the jihad.”
Mr. Moussaoui said he acted as a courier for Bin Laden, carrying personal messages to prominent Saudi princes and clerics. And he described his training in Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
Transcripts of testimony by Zacarias Moussaoui, a former Qaeda operative, under questioning over two days in October by lawyers in a suit filed against Saudi Arabia by relatives of 9/11 victims.
He helped conduct a trial explosion of a 750-kilogram bomb as a trial run for a planned truck-bomb attack on the American Embassy in London, he said, using the same weapon used in the Qaeda attacks in 1998 on the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He also studied the possibility of staging attacks with crop-dusting aircraft.
In addition, Mr. Moussaoui said, “We talk about the feasibility of shooting Air Force One.”
Specifically, he said, he had met an official of the Islamic Affairs Department of the Saudi Embassy in Washington when the Saudi official visited Kandahar. “I was supposed to go to Washington and go with him” to “find a location where it may be suitable to launch a Stinger attack and then, after, be able to escape,” he said.
He said he was arrested before being able to carry out the reconnaissance mission.
Mr. Moussaoui’s behavior at his trial in 2006 was sometimes erratic. He tried to fire his own lawyers, who presented evidence that he suffered from serious mental illness. But Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who presided, declared that she was “fully satisfied that Mr. Moussaoui is completely competent” and called him “an extremely intelligent man.”
“He has actually a better understanding of the legal system than some lawyers I’ve seen in court,” she said.
Also filed on Monday in the survivors’ lawsuit were affidavits from former Senators Bob Graham of Florida and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and the former Navy secretary John Lehman, arguing that more investigation was needed into Saudi ties to the 9/11 plot. Mr. Graham was co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the attacks, and Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Lehman served on the 9/11 Commission.
“I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia,” wrote Mr. Graham, who has long demanded the release of 28 pages of the congressional report on the attacks that explore Saudi connections and remain classified.
Mr. Kerrey said in the affidavit that it was “fundamentally inaccurate and misleading” to argue, as lawyers for Saudi Arabia have, that the 9/11 Commission exonerated the Saudi government.
The three former officials’ statements did not address Mr. Moussaoui’s testimony.
The 9/11 lawsuit was initially filed in 2002 but has faced years of legal obstacles. It was dismissed in 2005 on the grounds that Saudi Arabia enjoyed “sovereign immunity,” and the dismissal was upheld on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
But the same appellate court later reversed itself, ordering that the lawsuit be reinstated. The Saudi government appealed to the Supreme Court, but it declined to hear the case, so it was sent back to Federal District Court in Manhattan. The filing on Monday was in opposition to the latest motion by Saudi Arabia to have the case dismissed.
Mr. Carter, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said that he and his colleagues hoped to return to the Colorado prison to conduct additional questioning of Mr. Moussaoui and that they had been told by prison officials that they would be allowed to do so. “We are confident he has more to say,” Mr. Carter said.
So I am very fed up....with government, religion and the whole unholy combo. I have realized that my country is no different than it was 1000 years ago and is essentially a bunch of savages. I realize in publishing this, I will become an immediate target of the ISI and so when the first in this series is posted, I will leave Lahore and go on "vacation". Try and find me you fucks!
Marinade Theory: So what makes a good marinade is an acid, some flavor and a moisturizer. It is also the process by which most of the world achieves some sort of governance. Religion acts as the acid to open the pores and minds of the people. The flavor is the structure or so to speak of government and the moisturizer is economics: the every day pledge and strife for a better life: clean water, health care, food, safety. All of these work in concert to benefit the few at the cost of the masses. The ultimate goal is to keep those in power in power by any means. Even if it means rearing the head of an ugly straw man like Islamic fundamentalism. Does anyone think that there are not companies in the United States of America rejoicing each time an new ISIS threat is issued. Scared people open their pocket books for safety and the "peace" of religion. America has the advantages of a vastness and plentitude of resources so that even the lowest of low have more than the rest of the world. Pakistan has next to nothing. Few natural resources, too many people, massive corruption and an existential insecurity about India.
Pakistan:
Pakistan is an illusion built on the distorted illusion of the sanctity of Islam. Islam unto one self and in one's own head can be a beautiful thing. However, when it is spread amongst the masses like so much human fecal fertilizer, it begins to smell bad and result in despicable consequences.
Pakistan is a sham democracy. The real power is the power to kill or the military. The military puts up with the puppet democracy so it can suck the weapons and monetary teet of the Untied States. If the US wanted a true democracy it would not allow the military the might to kill every citizen three times over.
The message here is get in line or you will be imprisoned or killed. Islamic fundamentalism is not only tolerated but encourages so that the weapons and money will continue to flow, but can also be used to annoy and kill Indians (for reasons I do not understand).
Ultimately Pakistan was created by wealthy and prominent Muslims who were tired of the short straw from Hindu dominated India. The Partition had far more to do with economics than it did with some actual religious purpose. Of course that was put front and center at the time, but the reality of it is now in full view.
Pakistan is a militaristic, two-faced inept government that is dominated by savages. Need I mention Benazir Bhutto. On one hand they call them selves allies with America but in reality (and probably with America's consent and knowledge) they back room support all types of Islamic militant groups. Of all the famous jihadis (other than bin Laden) name anyone who is not Pakistani? Did bin Laden really hide or was he protected? Duh?
The lack of information and education allow this diaspora to remain. Most of the population is ignorant and practices a form of Islam that more resembles voodoo that any real established religion. Where and why do honor killings occur? Those morons believe that they are doing God's will.
----more later----------------------
Sunday, January 25, 2015
NEW DELHI: The geopolitical significance of an India-US entente could not be more evident as Obama touched down on Sunday morning to be greeted by Narendra Modi.
With the two nations armed with a sense of 'exceptionalism', convergences in their strategic outlook have more often been the stuff of thinktank discourse than executive action.
The prevailing global environment brings the two to a state of greater strategic interoperability. The AfPak region has always been most difficult.
Both countries recognize the dangers Pakistan-sponsored terror poses to itself, the region and the world. But neither India nor the US has trusted each other enough to have that no-holds-barred dialogue yet.
READ ALSO: Terror havens in Pak not acceptable, Obama says The US has over the years moved closer to India's position on Pakistan. Since 2008, US banned many groups via the UN and through its treasury department. Intelligence sharing has been better. India no longer froths at the mouth at Washington's engagement imperative with Pakistan.
The two countries now look at deeper engagement to secure Afghanistan, contain the damage Pakistan is doing to itself and the threat of terrorism. The real Obama-Modi conversation will involve Pakistan's future. India is worried about growing Chinese activities in Pakistan and PoK and will seek US expertise in managing the two-front threat.
The US discussion that it needs to engage India to balance China is greeted with skepticism in New Delhi. India believes its own growth would be a natural balancing factor. India, like the US, wants to build a more comprehensive engagement with China, while building its relationship with nations on China's periphery.
Despite the obvious military component, India has maintained primacy of commerce in its investment in the South China Sea oil blocks. To that extent, both sides will need to work together to place India into Asian trading arrangements like Apec and TTP.
That'll involve heavy lifting by India domestically, but as India grows and China becomes more of an expansionist power, India's "Act East" policy will become an essential part of the US "rebalance".
