US intervention will not succeed without Pak help: Gordon

Mumbai, Sep 18 (UNI) The United States direct intervention in Afghanistan will not succeed unless it gets tacit support from Pakistan, from where the nation in conflict got financial assistance and Taliban support, a senior US Foreign Policy expert said today.

Dr Philip Gordon, Senior Fellow of US Foreign Policy in the Brookings Institution and advisor to US Presidential nominee Barack Obama, addressing members of the Confederation of Indian Industry here, however, said that any meaningful engagement in Afghanistan could take place only if Pakistan emerges a peaceful state with a democratic government in place.

Pointing out to the emergence of India and China as the growing economic power in the world, he said it would be a matter of time, before the two countries emerge as power centres of the world.

The changing power structure in the global geopolitical situation would force both India and China to play a more responsible and leading role in resolving various problems and challenges. This included the energy crisis, climatic change and other issues, he said.

He also saw opportunity in nuclear cooperation stating that under a non-proliferation regime a time would come when three or four countries would have the nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities that could cater to the global requirements. Gordon opined though public-private partnerships could be easily achieved, it was difficult to arrive at public-public cooperations among nations.

The emergence of these two countries would also result in conflicts arising from the United States, the present power centre of the world. But this situation was bound to change within the next 15 to 20 years, he added.

Gordon said though there were other emerging nations such as Brazil, the developments in India and China were being watched more closely in view of the sustained growth of the two countries and the enormous growth potential.

UNI VK OBB SV BD1645