ISI isn’t going to cut its ties to the Taliban because ISI is the Taliban.
And whatever way the diplomats prefer to parse the questions and answers, ISI sponsored and supported the attack on Mumbai. They don’t worry about Indian reprisals because they want war. And anyway, they have always gotten away with this kind of thing before.
These are not people who want to govern in peace, they are not interested in building roads and sewage plants and water filtration systems. They want war, and they’ll have it whether their victims understand it or not. We believe that to have a war you have to have two combatants. But you don’t. All you need is one. The other side can either fight back or be a hapless victim.
The fact that Pakistan has an “official” government doesn’t really change anything. It is Talibanistan. Taliban is a Pakistani project. It goes forward whether India is in Afghanistan or not. So, based on that, India has to take actions that will limit Pakistan’s reach and that means increasing its own reach and influence in the countries surrounding Pakistan, and ultimately doing what it can to undermine the enemies in the Pak government. They will have to be both tough and smart.
Walking on eggshells with Pakistan doesn’t work. Surround them, and work within the country to divide the various factions from one another. Really, the US needs India to play bad cop to our good cop. The only real influence we have in Pakistan is our supposed ability to protect them from big bad India.
The ISI is a wing of the army. It has no power of its own.
Pakistan and North Korea are very similar in their approach to their neighbours. They have cowed them down with threats of nuclear war and economic ruin. One gets US food aid, the other gets US military aid.