During campaign season, then-Senator Obama pledged to withdraw from Iraq within his first 16 months in office, take the fight back to Afghanistan, and redouble efforts to capture and bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

Furthermore, it was mentioned numerous times that Pakistan must play a vital role in this process and make great efforts in taming its western frontier with Afghanistan, to ensure that fundamental, militant forms of Islam: such as that promoted by the Taliban: do not enjoy a resurgence in the region.

Yet, nearly three weeks after the election, then-President-elect Obama was not only greeted with continuingly dismal economic reports, but also his first international policy challenge: the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

It’s been no secret that the U.S. has always tread a fine line with Pakistan and India, both of which we consider to be strong allies, in a region where we desperately need support.

Yet it’s also been blatantly obvious that the two nations have not always had the strongest of ties, fighting bitter wars in the past, and more recently allowing tensions to foster a dangerous nuclear arms race.

Indeed, in December it seemed as if things were heading south when Indian officials asserted that Pakistani plotters of the attacks were running free in Pakistan, uncaught by apathetic Pakistani authorities.

Though tensions now are not as high as they were then, relations between the two remain fragile; as is often the case, it would not take much to further inflame the situation.

Thus, healthy relations between the two rivals are clearly in the best interest of the U.S., and should be a top priority in the Obama administration.
Granted, in these troubling economic times, domestic issues seem to be the most glaring deficiency needing attention at the moment, but, let it not be forgotten what international challenges we face.

If we are to seriously pursue Al Qaeda or the Taliban in the eastern regions of Afghanistan, we must enlist the full support of Pakistan, which, indeed, may not be a popular domestic issue in that nation.

This, in turn, means that a Pakistan/India war would be disastrous not only because of the humanitarian catastrophe that would ensue, or the possibility that nuclear war could be sparked, but also because it could allow lawlessness to reign in the western regions of Pakistan, allowing Taleban fighters to regain a foothold.

While I am fully aware that Obama is barely in the third week of his presidency, I am also aware that he has requested that we, the American people, hold him accountable for his actions, or, as it may occur, inaction.

Thus, I hope that the president, should he choose to expand the fight in Afghanistan, will follow through with his pledge by fostering better relations between the nations of India and Pakistan.

It is not merely in our best interest to pursue trilateral diplomacy in that region, but also in the best interest of those nations, as well as that of the world.