WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (APP) : Pakistan’s concerns over Indian involvement in Afghanistan are “real” and now  being taken “more seriously” by Washington, top U.S. experts told a Congressional hearing.  Milton A Bearden, former Central Intelligence Agency stateion chief in Islamabad, told the Foreign  Relations Committee that the U.S. must understand what regional countries are doing in Afghanistan in order to  come up with a “policy that makes sense for Afghanistan or Pakistan.”

“India is becoming involved in Afghanistan to an extent that the Pakistanis consider Afghanistan as  developing into an Indian garrison. 

“This is not hysteria. This is a real concern. Pakistan has fought three very real wars,” he told the  hearing, chaired by Senator John Kerry on  “Afghanistan’s Impact on Pakistan.”

Bearden, who said he is not making accusation against any country,  remarked New Delhi is deeply  entrenched in Afghanistan.

He said “though Pakistani concerns over Indian involvement in Afghanistan have in the past been dismissed  by American officials as overwrought, they are nonetheless real; and it is correct that these concerns are being  taken more seriously now by the United States.”

In this respect, he cited top American Commander General Stanley McChrystal’s conclusion in an initial  assessment on the declining situation in Afghanistan, dated August 30, 2009.         McChrystal, he said,, correctly acknowledged the delicacy of Indian involvement in Afghanistan as it  impacts on Pakistan.

“Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan, including significant development  efforts and financial investment,” Bearden quoted the US commander.

McChrystal, he said, also points out that increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to  exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures.

The security analyst stressed any measures the U.S. and its allies take to arrest deteriorating situation  in Afghanistan would definitely impact on Pakistan and underscored the premise of his argument on understanding  the situation in broader regional perspective.  

“Whatever we do, whatever measures we take, will affect Pakistan as the central element in this drama. But  moreover, I think that we will be unable to come up with a policy that makes any sense unless we step back a few  meters, look at the entire region, and try to understand what everybody is up to.

“So without understanding what Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan and India are doing in the region,  particularly in Afghanistan, I don’t think we can come up with a policy that makes sense for Afghanistan or  Pakistan.”

Steve Coll, head of the New American Foundation, said Pakistani security services and their leaders have  seen an Indian hand in Kabul since the days of the Soviet invasion. 

“And I’m not suggesting that it’s entirely illusory, as Milt described. India continues to invest deeply  in Afghanistan today,” he said.

Coll also discussed Pakistan’s reliance on militants in the past and argued that Washington should be  careful in crafting a way forward in Afghanistan and not give indication that it intends to undertake its regional  policy primarily through a strategic partnership with India as it would draw negative reaction.

“Between withdrawal signals and militarization, there is a more sustainable strategy, one that I hope that  the Obama administration is in the process of defining. It would make clear that the Taliban will never be  permitted to take power by force in Kabul or major cities. 

“It would seek an enforced stability in Afghan population centers but emphasize politics over combat,  urban stability over rural patrolling, Afghan solutions over western ones, and it would incorporate Pakistan more  directly into creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the region.

He hoped that such a sustained policy, combined with  heavy new investments in Pakistan’s success, with aid  like that coming under the Kerry‑Lugar legislation, would help Pakistan cast out the Taliban and lead to a  modernizing, politically plural, economically integrated and successful South Asia.