Secondly, the kleptocratic Pakistani establishment of Army-ISI has always used hostility against to perpetuate its own privileges. So, the reality that lurks behind all the hyperbole about kashmir is that a negotiated settlement with India is more inimical to Pakistani establishment’s interests.

Thirdly, Pakistan has a long festering dispute about its border with Afghanistan as the latter does not recognize the Durand Line. In fact, the only country that had opposed Pakistan’s entry into UN was Afghanistan. That is why, it is imperative for Pakistan to have a pliant regime in Kabul which will never raise the Durand Line issue. Use of Islamic fundamentalism and terror is thus, in the warped world view of the Pakistani Army, a necessity that will outlive the Kashmir dispute.

and finally, the argument that Pakistan will not take steps against Islamic terror until Kashmir issue is resolved, is nothing short of brazen blackmail. I had always been in favour of peace-process with a democratic Pakistan. But dialogue cannot take place under the shadow of gun. If the Pakistani establishment thinks, it can blackmail the world into pressurizing India through terror, it is only paving the path for its own implosion.

A plural, multicultural India for all its flaws, is a strong and resilient enough to survive odd terrorist attacks. But long before they can bleed India to death with thousand cuts, this Islamist fire will burn Pakistan to ashes. The process has already started. But alas, these criminals are still seen as ‘strategic assets’ by the Pakistani army.

and if attacks cross a threshold and the Pakistani state keeps on encouraging one terror attack against India after another, India will give a fitting reply to these crooks in uniform.

I cannot help but notice the parallel with 1971. As the Pakistani army unleashed a genocide in Bangladesh and India, (flooded with more than 10 million refugees) pleaded the international community to restrain Pakistan, U.S, UK, etc. all turned a blind eye (because of pakistan’s role in the Nixon-China dialogue). Instead, India was asked to shut up. But international community’s apathy and self-centered myopia finally led to a war and Independence of Bangladesh.

Before writing such ignorant trash , Mr. Vogt would have done better to learn a bit more of the sub-continent history. It would go a long way in building a ‘Secure America’.

Appeasement of terror will only further embolden these zealots. Europe appeased one set of killers in 1930s and the world paid a ghastly price. Humankind can scarcely afford a repeat.

Please explain to me how you can conclude that Pakistan’s failures are one due ot a “lack of attention” when the very Obama administration has blamed Pakistan for the wrong kind of attention with the Taliban and Al Qaeda i.e the one where Pakistani spies are working with the terrorists that they are supposed to be fighting?

Please also explain to me where in your wonderful logic, you have factored in the steady and unrelenting Pakistani state support for jihadists murdering people in India, Kashmir and elsewhere, in an apparent attempt to bleed Indian forces?

Do you even know what you are talking about?

If a serial killer says “I’ll stop killing if you can get my neighbor to send his wife to me”, would you consider it a reasonable request?

Short of India ceasing to exist, Pakistan’s paranoid Generals will keep sensing an existential threat from the Indians.

Should US policies to protect itself from terrorists revolve around this Pakistani paranoia?

A terrorist sponsoring nation, Pakistan, blackmails the US and seeks to annex territory that it could not get through war nor through terror proxies.

But it now says “Gimme Kashmir or I’ll keep sending Al Qaeda and Taliban into AFghanistan and beyond”

The way to handle a blackmailing thug is to call his bluff and give him a choice between doing the right thing and going to jail.

What next? Pakistanis may say, give me $100B and nuclear submarines or we won’t cooperate and the US just pays up like it did with AIG and the banks?

Indians are tired of Pakistan’s terror raids, with the wounds from Mumbai still raw. We will never yield to threats.

Even as the Mumbai masterminds are enjoying Pakistani patronage, Obama wants India to “talk” to Pakistan.

How rich?

Hey Obama, why didn’t you call for talks with Osama Bin Laden after 9/11? Maybe he too has genuine concerns that need to be addressed.

As I said, not one nanometer to Pakistan. Ever.

India will not concede one nanometer to Pakistan and any US pressure will end in permanent damage to US-India ties.

No sane US leader will risk permanently jeopardizing ties with a rising world power in order to accomodate a paranoid failing state.

Not one nanometer and go pound sand