WASHINGTON, Feb 1: Richrd Holbrooke, US President Barack Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrives in Islamabad on Feb 9 for exploratory talks with Pakistani leaders.

And even before his schedule was announced, the State Department made it obvious that Ambassador Holbrooke had a single-point agenda: winning the war in Afghanistan and Fata. He would not deal with other regional issues, certainly not occupied Kashmir.

“Kashmir was not going to be a part of Ambassador Holbrooke’s portfolio. We’ve made that very clear,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood when asked if Mr Holbrooke would also help India and Pakistan resolve the Kashmir dispute.

The State Department also reminded Pakistan that while the US was not willing to play any mediatory role in resolving the Kashmir dispute, it did believe that India had a major role in Afghanistan and if Mr Holbrooke ever had to consult India, those consultations would be about Afghanistan.

“India has a lot of interests in Afghanistan. Ambassador Holbrooke, other officials will be consulting with India,” the spokesman said.

And as if the appointment of a diplomat known in the diplomatic circles as “tough as a nail” was not enough, the Obama administration also decided to send a general as its new envoy in Kabul.

Even the US media had to note that appointing a career army officer --- Lt-Gen Karl Eikenberry, who would soon retire from the service to fill one of America’s most sensitive diplomatic jobs --- was “highly unusual.”

The message is obvious: the Obama administration wants to use a combination of brawn and brain -– a general and a tough negotiator -– to win the war in Afghanistan.

Mr Holbrook will spend two days in the Pakistani capital before flying out to Kabul. When he returns, he will make his contribution to an expected new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US officials say the main goal of the new strategy is to bring the unfinished war in Afghanistan and Fata to a successful conclusion. To attain this goal, Mr Obama is doubling the number of US troops on the ground and keep them fighting for five years or more.

But the victory that the Obama administration is talking about is not necessarily a military victory. Obama officials have said that they have set themselves “lower goals”.The administration also plans to shift US and allied efforts from the ineffective and corrupt central government in Kabul to provincial and local governments instead.

Another major aspect of the new strategy will be a greater focus on Pakistan, and not merely as an adjunct to the Afghan war. The Obama administration fears that a descent into chaos by nuclear-armed Pakistan will be even worse for US security than a collapse in Kabul.

Diplomatic observers in Washington point out that Ambassador Holbrooke’s appointment as a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan --- not just Afghanistan --– underlines Washington’s concerns about Pakistan’s future.

This new approach includes a modest increase in military aid to Pakistan. But the focus is on tripling economic aid to the country --- a pledge of $15 billion over 10 years.

Despite this unprecedented increase in US aid, America’s relationship with Pakistan will continue to be rocky as Mr Obama also wants to continue Predator strikes in Fata.

Such strikes not only turn the people against the United States, but they also bring new volunteers for militant groups, as Senator John Kerry, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, admitted in a recent hearing.

It also makes it difficult for authorities in Islamabad to cooperate with the US.

Obama officials, however, say their new strategy will be “pragmatic, rather than ideal”. They say they know that fixing Afghanistan and Pakistan is going to be harder than fixing Iraq, and the penalties for failure are greater.

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