Pratyush wrote:
. The solution for me will be to encourage the Talibanisation of that society.
This is exactly what I and some others have said too.
But I think things have actually evolved beyond that.(to my surprise)
What is happening is that as Pakis get Talibanized there appears to be a set of Pakis who are unhappy about this and looking for a way out.
Now there are (I believe) two ways of dealing with this
Option A
1) Ignore the Paquis who are suffering from Talibanization and watch with happiness as they get swallowed up
2) deal with the Taliban when they have won Pakistan
Option B
1) Give support (moral, diplomatic, piskological) support to the anti Taliban people
2) Let the Taliban fight harder within Pakistan for hearts and minds and let the fight continue longer within Pakistan because their opponents in Pakistan have more support. Why help the Taliban get a walkover?
3) If the Taliban win - fine - we have already said that is OK. If the Taliban keep on fighting Pakistan will keep on failing. If the anti-Taliban forces win we will have a bigger constituency under our influence in Pakistan. Currently the anti-Taliban forces are getting support from the US. If we do not support them and they win, only the US wins. If we can influence them, we gain influence.
The only question is what kind of influence can we exert on the anti-Taliban people.
The answer to that question can only come if we can say "Who is anti Taliban?" in Pakistan. In answer to that question there seems to be at least some Pakis who are looking for Indian help. How do we "help" them without screwing ourselves? The only thing I can say is that we try and get a handle on Pakistani education and make changes in the Paki curriculum via the anti-Taliban people who are willing to work with India. The idea is to prevent the Taliban from wining more recruits and to create from scratch a community of Pakis who are not anti-Indian. They can be coerced to cooperate when they are afraid of the Taliban There seem to be several ways in which this might be possible - but we first have to see which Pakis, if any are really interested in joining with such a plan. Nothing definite here - but no harm in trying.
Option A requires only hostility from India
Option B requires "talks"