Richard Holbrooke to be Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan

The experienced diplomat Richard Holbrooke is in line to become the state department's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was Al Gore's choice for secretary of state had Gore won the presidency, and he might have been Hillary Clinton's choice for secretary had she won the top job.

Holbrooke will be remembered for bringing the warring parties of the Bosnian conflict together in Dayton, Ohio, virtually locking them up and scolding them until the conflict was settled. The result was not perfect, but it ended a particularly vicious war.

Special envoys can be useful in bringing parties to a specific conflict together. It seems to me, however, that special envoys are less useful in simply dealing with a region. True, the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan's insurgency are a single theatre of war. But although Afghanistan and Pakistan have disagreements they are not at war with each other.

The big flaw in Holbrooke's assignment, however, will be that his brief will not include India. The conflict that really needs settling is Kashmir. Mostly Muslim Kashmir went to India in the 1947 partition when it logically should have gone to Pakistan because Pakistan was set up to be a Muslim homeland. India and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir, and it remains a constant source of trouble because the people of Kashmir have never been reconciled to Indian rule. Pakistan's interference and India's harsh repressions have not helped.

A special envoy to bring India and Pakistan to the table over Kashmir might be a good idea, but that's exactly what India does not want.

India thinks of itself as an emerging world power, and doesn't take kindly to being lumped together with Pakistan and Afghanistan for any kind of American attention.

But more importantly, India doesn't want to be dragged to Dayton or anywhere else for a negotiated settlement. India is steadfast that Kashmir is an internal Indian matter and none of America's business.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/worldview/090118/richard-holbrooke-be-obamas-special-envoy-pakistan-and-afghanistan