[Peace-discuss] Hard to be a satrap today...

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The famous diplomat puts a foot (or more) wrong, and reveals what seems to be a 
typical US attitude.  The wonderful phrase "signals of hyphenation" should be 
saved for future use.  --CGE]

	Govt to Holbrooke: Can't just walk in and out of India
	Indrani Bagchi, TNN 14 August 2009, 04:10am IST

NEW DELHI: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy on Af-Pak, is finding the 
going very difficult when it comes to India. For the second time in a month, 
Holbrooke has had "scheduling" problems in India.

The foreign office has told Holbrooke in very polite diplomatic terms that he 
cannot walk in and out of India at will. Holbrooke, senior officials said, had a 
habit of unilaterally deciding when he wanted to come to India and then 
demanding to see his top foreign policy interlocutors.

The MEA found it offensive, to say the least. Consequently, Holbrooke has 
discovered that soon after he announces to the world about his India travel 
plans, the relevant officials are invariably unavailable.

Holbrooke will be visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan starting on August 15, but 
will, once again, skip India. And this after having announced three weeks ago 
that he would be in India in mid-August.

Senior government sources, speaking on background, said Holbrooke's mandate did 
not include India, so there was little need for him to visit India every time he 
was in the region. "It sends the wrong signals of hyphenation that we want to 
avoid," they said.

Holbrooke, said sources, tried hard to come along with secretary of state 
Hillary Clinton during her maiden visit here last month but was discouraged. 
Sources said he tried hard to get Clinton to visit Pakistan, but between Clinton 
and Barack Obama, there was a decision to deal with India without the Pakistan 
baggage. So that did not happen either, much to Pakistan's chagrin.

He had announced that he would visit India after Clinton's visit, but that did 
not happen. Answering questions at a press conference in Washington at the end 
of July, Holbrooke, however, denied any "complications".  "There were no 
complications. I have three or four people in India who are my main policy 
interlocutors. All but one of them were going to be out of the country, so..." 
Then he had said he would be in India in mid-August.

On Wednesday, Holbrooke was once again telling an audience in Washington that 
his trip to the region involved only Pakistan and Afghanistan, not India. 
Describing India as a “dominant power” in South Asia, Holbrooke said the 
Obama administration was keeping New Delhi informed about its policies in the 
Afghanistan-Pakistan region. "The Indians are a major factor in the region. They 
are a dominant power," he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Govt-to-Holbrooke-Cant-just-walk-in-and-out-of-India/articleshow/4892246.cms