| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Should India talk with Pakistan's chief of army staff (COAS)? While most in Delhi will dismiss this idea as asinine, the US nearly pulled this rabbit out of the hat in December 2010.
Writing in his recent book, The Dispensable Nation, Vali Nasr, who was senior advisor to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, says that "Holbrooke had persuaded General Kayani to agree in principle to talks with India over Afghanistan and Afghanistan only." With this assurance, Holbrooke met the Indian diplomat (unnamed) over dinner in the US on 6 December 2010. According to Nasr, the Indian diplomat took this message to Delhi, and "shortly thereafter, a message came from Delhi that Singh (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) had given the green light". The meeting never took place as Holbrooke died within a week.
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