Posted on 05/03/2003 8:27:21 PM PDT by IndianChief
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, MAY 04, 2003 02:16:54 AM ]
WASHINGTON: Indian and Pakistani troops who were poised eyeball-to-eyeball in confrontation only a few months back could soon be standing shoulder-to-shoulder in peacekeeping operations in Iraq if the United States has its way.
Washington is asking both nations to contribute forces to a multinational division that will help police Iraq and enable most US troops to return home, according to reports here. The proposal will be discussed further at a "force generation" conference organized by the United Kingdom in London next week followed by another meeting in Warsaw later in the month.
Officials in both US and India say the matter has been discussed in a "general way" during the past month and is expected to come up during talks between India’s National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra and his US interlocutors this coming week.
New Delhi is skittish about troop commitments for Iraq, not because of its reservations on the war on Iraq or the lack of UN sanction, but more because it believes it is does not have the domestic political space to make such a pledge.
For that to happen, the ruling party will have to cover a lot of political ground with the its allies and the opposition Congress and that is a difficult proposition in the current atmosphere, say senior government officials, while not completely ruling out the possibility that such an attempt will be made. In the meantime, New Delhi is also hoping the U.S will obtain the necessary UN mandate that will make it easier for India to commit troops.
For now though, India has told the Bush administration that it will be happy giving a hand in other areas of stabilization, including help in restoring law and order and bureaucracy, essential urban infrastructure and maintaining hospitals.
Under the plan currently under Washington's consideration, Poland is expected to have a key role in the coalition peacekeeping operation at the expense of the usual American allies France and Germany, which are being pointedly ignored. Others nations from Europe whose troops are being solicited are Bulgaria, Denmark, Ukraine and the Netherlands.
Unnamed US officials who were accompanying Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on his recent seven-nation swing are being quoted in the US media as saying three more nations — the Philippines, Qatar and South Korea — had agreed to make other contributions, including field hospitals, engineers, civil defense and mine-clearing specialists. There were also ongoing discussions with India and Pakistan for troop contributions.
Although both India and Pakistan opposed the US war on Iraq, they are being asked to send troops because they are among the most experienced nations when it comes to peacekeeping operations. Throwing the troops together, mostly likely under the command of Poland, also appears to be Washington’s way of defusing tensions between the two sides.
Forces from the two countries have worked in the same territory on UN Peacekeeping missions before before with some degree of comfort.
The United States currently has about five divisions in Iraq (each division has up to 20,000 troops) and the plan is to downsize it to as little as one division, concentrated mainly in and around Baghdad. The British are expected to maintain another division in Basra. Washington wants a multinational force to take charge of other areas of Iraq which it is having difficulty policing.
...the ruling party will have to cover a lot of political ground with the its allies and the opposition Congress and that is a difficult proposition in the current atmosphere...
Excuses, excuses.... the BJP has full control of India's military resources.. they don't need the Congress or the Samajvadi or anyone else to approve.
Huh? This claim sounds way off base. Do we even have 5 divisions?
Check this page at Global Security. It looks like we have the Marine I MEF (Includes the 1st Marine Division and elements of the 2nd Marine Division), the 3rd Infantry(Mech) Division, the 4th Infantry(Mech) Division, the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division.
Also present are elements of the 1st Infantry(Mech) Division, elements of the 10th Mountain Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 3rd Armored Cavalary Regiment. The UK has their composite 1st Armored Division present.
We have four division present, the Brits have one, for a total of five. That may be what the paper was refering to in the text.
dvwjr
Big SMILE here !
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