India-U.S. Counterterrorism Cooperation Bruce Riedel

India-U.S. Counterterrorism Cooperation Bruce Riedel here has been considerable improvement in Another LeT attack like Mumbai or Herat will pro- India-U .S . counterterrorism cooperation since voke the most serious crisis in years between India Tthe Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) attack on Mum- and Pakistan—the more that can be done to prevent bai in November 2008 . Senior visits by security offi- such a disaster, the better . Even if an attack cannot cials on both sides have become more frequent as has be foiled, the more information exchanged about information sharing . India and the U .S . cooperated Pakistani involvement with LeT, the more likely the in the capture and interrogation of two of the plan- U .S . will have credibility with New Delhi if a crisis ners of the 26/11 attack . The U .S . placed a bounty occurs . on LeT leader Hafiz Saeed for information leading to his arrest and this June the U .S . blamed LeT for the The United States should also consider a unilater- attack on India’s consulate in Herat, Afghanistan—an al step: placing Pakistan on the State Department operation intended to upstage Prime Minister Modi’s list of terrorist sponsor states . It certainly meets the swearing-in ceremony . criteria and has for decades . The first Bush adminis- tration seriously considered this step in 1992 . Such There are two areas where cooperation will need to a step would obviously have immense consequenc- be strengthened in the next few years . The first is es for U .S .-Pakistan relations . A more limited step Afghanistan . As NATO forces depart Afghanistan, would be to target specific sanctions against individ- it will be increasingly difficult to maintain intelli- ual Pakistani officials involved in supporting terror- gence capabilities there to collect information on Al ism like members of ISI’s “S” branch that handles Qaeda, LeT and other terror groups operating in liaison with LeT, the Haqqani network, and others . Afghanistan and the border areas of Pakistan . India A targeted counterterrorism sanctions move against is already increasing its capabilities in Afghanistan specific Pakistani government officials would send a and working closely with the Afghan government . strong deterrent message to the Pakistani army and The U .S . should support this cooperation and seek could be a warning shot before putting Pakistan on to work with India and Afghanistan . the terror patron state list . The second is Pakistan . While Pakistan has taken a Finally, there should be contingency planning be- more robust stand against its own Taliban militancy tween Washington and New Delhi about managing this year, the army and the ISI remain closely linked a future India-Pakistan crisis like the Kargil war or to other terrorists groups, especially LeT . Counter- the 2001-2002 crisis . This would be intended to cre- terrorism cooperation with India should include ate dialogue about crisis management, not coordi- robust intelligence exchange on Pakistan’s terrorist nation about ganging up on Pakistan . It would be a connections, particularly the ISI-LeT connection . prudent investment in planning for the worst . The Modi-Obama Summit: A Leadership Moment for India and the United States 25.

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