WASHINGTON, June 3: The appointment of Ajit Doval as India’s National Security Adviser means “accountability” and it would exert pressure on Pakistan to “shut down the terror factory it has built”, an American expert on South Asia has said.
Bruce Riedel, senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, part of Brookings’ new Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, said the US should “grasp” this opportunity to work closely with India.
“His (Doval’s) CV is very impressive and intriguing. My impression is this signifies that counter terrorism is going to be a top tier issue for the BJP government, as I believe it should be,” Riedel told PTI.
“This means not just accountability for past terror outrages like Mumbai but pressing Pakistan to shut down the terror factory it has built over the last few decades. The US should grasp this opportunity eagerly to work with India,” he said.
A former CIA analyst, Riedel was involved in the shaping of the Af-Pak policy in the first term of the Obama Administration.
He praised the Narendra Modi-led government for appointing Doval as the NSA, stating that this reflects the priorities of the new Indian Prime Minister.
Doval, a 1968-batch Kerala cadre IPS officer who retired as director of IB in 2005, till recently headed a strategic privately owned think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation. (PTI)
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