Afghan unrest harmful for Pakistan, India, says Armitage

SINGAPORE—Failure to restore peace to Afghanistan may jeopardise stability in neighbouring Pakistan and have a knock-on effect on India, former U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said on Monday.
Calling on the international community to pay more attention to Afghanistan, Armitage said persistent violence in that country might wreck Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s efforts to defeat the forces of religious extremism at home.
“I want to call your attention to Afghanistan. The stakes in Afghanistan are actually larger in the near term than they are in Iraq,” said Armitage, speaking at a seminar for conflict mediators in Asia. Continued clashes in Afghanistan could also have knock-on effects on India, which may already perceive itself to be surrounded by failed or failing states such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he said.
Afghanistan is currently enduring its bloodiest period since U.S.-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban’s radical Islamic government in 2001, with insurgent attacks gathering momentum. “The knock-on effects of a lack of success in Afghanistan will have enormous repercussions,” Armitage said. The situation in Afghanistan was not “an Iran situation which is a future problem, but a problem now”, he added.—Agencies