Gates faces lingering issues in India-Pakistan push

RELATED NEWS Robert Gates praises India restraint after Mumbai attacks

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates' charm offensive in India and Pakistan this week was designed to confront lingering problems ranging from border tensions and drones to nuclear weapons and Islamic insurgents.

Here are some of the key questions and answers about the challenges he faced during his January 19-22 trip and what they mean for regional US policy going forward.

Can US Rebuild trust in Pakistan?

Gates acknowledged a "trust deficit" with Pakistan and that resolving it won't be easy or quick. But he attempted to address conspiracy theories undermining perceptions about the United States, including suspicions that Washington is secretly planning to grab Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

He told a gathering of officers at the prestigious National Defence University that this was part of an "organized propaganda campaign" by insurgents to discredit the United States. He also took questions from the officers on a range issues, including the war in Afghanistan.

"That kind of interaction is quite critical," said Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistan expert who directs the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, saying it would impact subsequent conversations within the Pakistani military.

Gates also addressed suspicions with Pakistan's media, telling one interviewer: "We have no intention or desire to take over any of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. We have no desire to occupy any part of Pakistan or split up any part of Pakistan. We have no intent to split the Islamic world."

What about drones?

Gates explicitly sought to have a candid dialogue with Pakistanis, but ran into trouble when reporters asked him about U.S. drone strikes against insurgents, which are deeply unpopular and fuel anti-American sentiment. The Pentagon does not discuss the secret CIA program in Pakistan and Gates was forced to repeat the standard line: "I am not going to talk about operations."

At one point, a frustrated Pakistani reporter asked him: if you won't talk, who will?

Gates joked: "I hope you don't find anybody."

He said the United States would supply surveillance drones to Pakistan, but these are not the weaponized drones that Islamabad wants. A U.S. military official played down any immediate impact the new drones will have on operations, saying it could take years for Pakistan's military to learn how to use them and process the surveillance data.

Do India and Pakistan see insurgents as a commomn enemy?

In both New Delhi and Islamabad, Gates appeared to focus on the common threat of Islamic extremism that both countries share, but reporters repeatedly returned to questions about India-Pakistan tensions.

A US military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described Pakistanis as divided over whether India or insurgents were the real threat and added he did not know "how this debate is going to end up."

In New Delhi, Gates acknowledged that India might lose its diplomatic patience if it suffered another attack like the 2008 strike in Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants. He said militants would like to provoke a war between India and Pakistan.

Gates was repeatedly asked in public about whether the Washington might take up a mediating role. But U.S. officials said neither Pakistani nor Indian leaders requested such assistance during closed-door meetings with Gates. The secretary said both nations seemed to want to deal with each other bilaterally.

How do arms sales factor into the debate?

Gates encouraged India to consider buying U.S. military equipment that would bring both militaries closer together, but then had the difficult task in Pakistan of soothing concerns that such an arrangement would undermine Pakistani security.

Gates said in Islamabad: "I think we have to make these decisions (on arms sales) judiciously. But we also don't want simply to turn over these military relationships to other countries that don't have as many scruples as we do in terms of making those decisions."

A US military official, briefing reporters in Pakistan, noted that the United States had provided F-16 fighter jets to Islamabad, but added that would hardly alter the strategic balance in the region.

"Another squadron of F-16s will just mean they would lose the next war with India a little slower. They're not going to defeat India because we gave them a squadron of F-16s. The military overmatch that India enjoys is just too large."

Is the US pushing for more from Pakistan?

Instead of renewing previous U.S. calls for Islamabad to "do more," Gates was full of praise for Pakistan's efforts against insurgents over the past year and did not press on the pace of future operations.

He said Pakistan would decide "when they are ready to do something or whether they are going to do it at all."

"The way I like to express it is: We're in this car together, but the Pakistanis are in the driver's seat and have their foot on the accelerator. And that's just fine with me."

A Pakistani military spokesman told reporters traveling with Gates that there would not be any offensives in the next six months to a year because the armed forces risked being overstretched.