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As the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs concluded its hearings on “Lessons from the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks,” two influential policy advisors testified that despite better preventive and response systems in the US, a Mumbai-like attack on America by LeT was “not inconceivable”.
“It would be a gross error to treat the terrorism facing India — including the terrible recent atrocities — as simply a problem for New Delhi alone. In a very real sense, the outage in Bombay was fundamentally a species of global terrorism not merely because the assailants happened to believe in an obscurantist brand of Islam but, more importantly, because killing Indians turned out to be simply interchangeable with killing citizens of some fifteen different nationalities for no apparent reason whatsoever,” said Ashley J Tellis, Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace, a prominent think-tank.
The testimonies — the first since Barack Obama took over on January 20 — come at a time when the new administration is in the process of unveiling its foreign policy priorities for South Asia, having just announced a special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan in Richard Holbrooke.
Tellis, who in his previous role as senior advisor to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs had been closely involved in the negotiations for the civil nuclear agreement between India and US, said the fact that LeT had not mounted any direct attacks on the American homeland was not because of want of motivation.
“Given the juicier and far more vulnerable US targets in southern Asia, LeT has simply found it more convenient to attack these in situ rather than over extend itself in reaching out to the continental United States,” he said.
“India has unfortunately become the ‘sponge’ that protects us all. India’s very proximity to Pakistan, which has developed into the epicenter of global terrorism during the last thirty years, has resulted in New Delhi absorbing most of the blows unleashed by those terrorist groups that treat it as a common enemy along with Israel, the United States, and the West more generally,” he said.
Brian Michael Jenkins, senior advisor with the RAND Corporation, another policy group that recently came out with a report on the Mumbai incident, said the attacks in Mumbai showed that the global struggle against the jihadists was far from over.
“Al Qaeda is not the only galaxy in the jihadist universe — new contenders that have signed on to Al Qaeda’s ideology of global terror,” Jenkins said referring to LeT.
“Could a Mumbai-style attack happen in the United States? It could. The difference lies in planning and scale... Could a team of terrorists, recruited and trained abroad as the Mumbai attackers were, be inserted into the United States, perhaps on a US-registered fishing vessel or pleasure boat, to carry out a Mumbai-style attack? Although our intelligence has greatly improved, the answer again must be a qualified yes,” Jenkins said in his testimony.
Describing the clear links that LeT had with Pakistan’s official agencies — “the question whether these murderous acts (in Mumbai) were sanctioned by elements within the Pakistani state is prima facie not absurd in light of the ISI’s traditionally close relationship with LeT,” Tellis suggested that the Obama administration needed to treat India’s concerns about terrorism more seriously than the United States had done so far.
“Of all the terrorist groups present in South Asia, and there are many, LeT represents a threat to regional and global security second only to al-Qaeda,” Tellis said.
“If the United States fails to recognize that the struggle against terrorism ought to be indivisible because Indian security is as important to New Delhi as American security is to Washington, future Indian governments could choose to respond to the problems posed by Pakistani groups such as LeT in ways that may undermine regional security and make the US effort to transform Pakistan more difficult than it already is,” he said.
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LeT is home grown and encourged in Pakistan , the paki Goverment is well aware about that organisation is been trained and financed by ISI with blessing of Paki Goverment . America has given Pakistan around 12 Billon Dollers in aid , most of money went to defense with about 30 % went to infrastructure to show USA that the money is well spent , they have updated there army in the name of fighting terrorisum but brough heavy armaments to fight India Pakistan is wolf in sheeps clothing , hope American and our new president understands that GOD BLESS AND PROTECT AMERICA
There would have been no 9/11 if only the US had listened to what India was telling them, about Paki terrorists and world terrorists in Pak, right from 1996.
I completely agree with US senate.... I also VERY firmly believe that PENTAGON is the FATHER of ISI. ISI is devious machine… so is PENTAGON… We need to careful when People (a country) change sides !!! Does anybody think that USA did NOT know that LeT, Al-Qaeda groups were active in Pakisthan ??? and they only realized this after Mumbai attacks ??? I don’t believe this. If USA knew LeT and Al-Qaeda were operating from Pakistan… Then why was Arms and all other kind of aids were given to Pakisthan by USA ????
Completely agree with the presentations made to the US Senate. One addition - Kashmir needs to be also de-linked from the terror issue. It is the assumption of Pakistanis that Kashmir will go to them; if not what happens then? Terror activities of the state appartus in Pakistan will increase. If Pakistan does get part of Kashmir, the terrorists from Pakistan move a lot closer to India. The assumption is made that sorting Kashmir will remove terror from Pakisatani psyche. I contend it will not. It will strengthen their resolve to disintegrate India further through "thousand cuts". The proposition of Kashmir linkage to terror is a non-starter on more than one count. The Pakistani trouble in Swat and FATA is also believed to be the work of ISI, to give the impression to the west that Pakistan is suffering. ISI is a very devious machine, nothing is beyond them.
The thought process is welcome by the US. To what extent will they materialize their thoughts remains to be seen. From time immemorial US knew that Pak will turn into a terrorist state at some time but they kept supporting it - in the name of 'promoting' democracy by coercion. Well, it did not go any where. The indepth analysis required - further than what is portrayed here is - what does US gain from recognizing the fact they have to help India against LeT. US does not India attacking Pak and the Pak-nukes running off to crazy hands which inturn would undermine US security. If we all realize US is less bothered about others safety - its safety comes first. Presidents may change - and come with a message for change - but they are changed by Washington - and its policies!
it is basically nothing. they wants Indian money and equippments to be a part of war. once we are into the same, US and allies will always pressurise India, to be a part of war that do in the name of terror. i think India should not lesson to these hypes created by senate and resolve the same with Pakistan, either peacefully or forcefully. we don't require a forgein support, and once we took it, then we have reciporcate in the same manner, when it is required by them. US and allies don't have many resources at the moment to complete,what they have started, and they want India's resuorces to be a part, there by selling their weapons. the best part is to bring Aganistan and Fomer russia into ipicture, thereby blocking the terriosts resources, rather than depending US and Isrel.
Of late, US people realized the mistakes by admitting that India become the ‘sponge’ that protects all of them.
What is the cause for this enlightenment?They never woke up when Pakis tested a nuclear bomb?They never woke during Kargil war?They never woke up during mumbai serial train blast? Is it the severe depression in the US?
This is a great realization of U.S. Lawmakers / security personnel. Earlier, US and other EU nations considered the terrorism faced by India from Pakistan was India's regional matter. Hopefully, the new finding will force the western world to take serious action against the Pakistani sponsored terrorism in India and in the border states.. The terror universities in India should be dismantled….
The U.S. is one country we must cultivate strategically as the common challenges on terror are clear and direct to both. However, I doubt if the new popcorn President Obama,who expects all answers to somehow pop out from nowhere, has the strategic depth to fully comprehend Islamic terror.
Thankfully, We have got a good observation of the scenario. Thus, it is the need of the hour to take proper decisions keeping in mind not only the regional security, but the global stability at all.
What I used to say in 'private' in my friends and family circles, the US senate members are saying NOW! Just shows how great and intelligent I am :). Jokes apart. Its great to realise that the US has realised the 'importance' of having a democratic India (which means it shares the SAME values and principles as the rest of the civilised world) which has been, and will continue to act as a buffer between the fanatics and the rest of the world. That also explains to the politically innocent the new found toughness in USA's attitude towards Pakistan! And all this has started to happen because the Americans have once again chosen a really intelligent and pragmatic president! There's a lesson in it somewhere for OUR VOTERS for the April-May exercise!