On the Af-Pak map

For all its discomfort and lack of clarity with the Af-Pak policy that US has announced,India found itself invited to a closed door informal meeting of the Af-Pak envoys in Munich after the Hague meet. It wasn’t the US but Germany which took the initiative and ensured India was invited,which was significant given that Afghanistan and Pakistan were left out from this exercise — the logic being that since the two countries were under discussion,it wouldn’t be appropriate to have them represented. Iran was also left out despite the seeming thaw at The Hague where Richard Holbrooke walked up to the table where the Iranian envoy was seated for lunch and said: “We can talk now”. This group of over a dozen special envoys will meet regularly,said sources.